The person writing your prescription
Check permission to practise where you are.
US health-department guidance says the person treating you must have permission to practise in the state where you are physically present during the visit. This was checked September 26, 2026.
A doctor’s public record comes from a state medical board, the body that issues medical licences.
That record can show whether the doctor holds an active licence and whether rule-breaking led to action by the board.
The absence of board action does not show how well the doctor cares for patients.
Find the state medical boardThe pharmacy supplying your medicine
Look up the pharmacy on the offer or label.
The state board of pharmacy keeps pharmacy-licence records.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US drug agency, links to state searches for checking online pharmacies.
In advice checked September 17, 2026, FDA says to avoid an online pharmacy absent from the state’s database.
The listing shows a licence. Questions about the medicine may still need answers.
Open the state pharmacy searchThe maker
Ask who actually prepares the medicine.
The online care service and the maker of your medicine may have different names.
Compounding is making a medicine, or changing one, to meet a patient’s need.
For a medicine prepared to order, get the maker’s name and the supplying pharmacy’s name. They may be different businesses.
Get those names before paying so they can be checked.
Badges and registration
Find out what the badge proves.
As of September 26, 2026, FDA registration alone gives no FDA approval to a facility or drug.
Accreditation means an outside organisation has checked a pharmacy’s work. For a compounding badge marked “PCAB”, the checking group is called ACHC. It checks how the pharmacy makes medicines against national quality rules, not each batch.
That check does not take the place of a state licence.
A way to reach someone
Ask how questions get answered.
FDA’s pharmacy checklist includes a licensed pharmacist to answer questions, a US contact address, and a way to call.
In that advice, checked September 17, 2026, FDA cautions that fake storefronts can look like licensed pharmacies.
Ask how questions about an order, delivery, or unclear label get handled.