Your question
What happens during a care visit?
Start by describing your problem and the change you hope for. Ask the person treating you what they need to learn about your problem.
How do the visits differ?
Showing both visit types.
Online visit
Telehealth means talking about care through a screen, a call, or an online exchange.
Expect to explain your concern, share your history, and ask questions. Find out how to send records before the visit.
As of September 2026, online care requires the treating person to hold a licence or another permission in the state you are in at that visit.
Give the service your location for the visit, even if you are travelling.
In-person visit
Use the visit to describe the problem in your own words. Bring the notes you want the person treating you to read.
Ask what can be checked during the visit and what may need another appointment or a test. Write down how results will reach you.
What if I need tests or an examination?
State medical boards belong to the Federation of State Medical Boards. This group says your online care clinician must arrange needed tests or refer you elsewhere for them.
Its guidance calls for an in-person visit when the needed examination cannot be done online.
Ask which question each proposed test is meant to answer.
Can a form take the place of a visit?
Care cannot rest solely on a form offering fixed answer choices, according to guidance from the Federation of State Medical Boards available in September 2026.
The person treating you must be able to gather the needed information and ask more questions.
As of September 2026, state rules differ, so an online form is not allowed or forbidden everywhere under one rule.
Can you explain something the boxes do not cover? Can the person treating you ask you more questions? Ask how that conversation will happen.
What matters here?
Find out how your problem will be checked, which tests are needed, and how you will hear back.