A plain-language guide for Irvine
Finding care begins with a name you can check.
You can visit a medical office or discuss care by video, phone or messages, often called telehealth. Ask who would examine you and which pharmacy would send the medicine.
Compare a room visit with remote care
An in-person visit puts you in the same room as the person treating you. Telehealth is care through video, a phone call or messages.
Ask what assessment you would receive and how the service handles a need for an exam.
As of September 2026, California requires a doctor treating a patient in the state by telehealth to have a current California licence.
A remote doctor can be based outside California.
Know whose record to open
California uses one state licence search for doctors, nurses, pharmacies and the other care workers explained below.
The letters after a doctor’s name may be MD or DO. MD means medical doctor; DO means doctor of osteopathic medicine, another type of doctor. Choose the Medical Board for an MD and the Osteopathic Medical Board for a DO.
A nurse practitioner, or NP, is a nurse whose work includes checking health problems and may include writing prescriptions.
For an NP, check the nursing record and the prescribing record called “Nurse Practitioner Furnishing”, or NPF.
Choose the Board of Registered Nursing for those records. Ask the service to explain any missing record before proceeding.
As of September 2026, a California physician assistant, or PA, can provide medical care and write prescriptions under a signed agreement with a supervising doctor.
Choose the Physician Assistant Board for a PA. Ask what the PA would do at your visit and whether you would also see the doctor.
Ask for the full name and licence type before opening the search.
Open the official licence tools →Read beyond the name match
State records show whether a licence is current or expired. The licensing board also lists discipline, including a suspended licence (on hold) or a revoked licence (taken away).
The details shown differ between doctors, nurses and other care workers. A record with no listed discipline does not prove how good the care is.
If you find discipline on the record, read the attached details and ask how it affects the care on offer.
Make sure the record belongs to the person who would assess you. Keep the name for later questions.
A form can be part of an assessment
As of September 2026, California allows the health check before prescribing to use a questionnaire, if it provides enough information for proper medical care.
Completing a form does not always provide enough information. Whether it is enough depends on your health problem and the care you need.
Ask who reads the answers, how you can ask questions and how missing information is collected.
The Federation of State Medical Boards writes guidance for the boards that oversee doctors. Its guidance calls for needed tests or an in-person exam when a remote health check leaves important questions unanswered.
Consent comes before remote care
As of September 2026, California requires the person providing remote care to explain it, get your spoken or written agreement and record that agreement.
Consent means giving your agreement. It does not block later in-person care.
Check the pharmacy as well
Ask which pharmacy would make and send the medicine. The service name may not reveal who makes it.
The California pharmacy search has separate records for sterile compounding: making medicine free of living germs.
A pharmacy outside California needs a California nonresident pharmacy licence to ship prescription medicines into the state, as of September 2026.
Nonresident describes a pharmacy with its base outside California.
Find the pharmacy check →