Skip to the guide Online care, explained. A plain-language guide to finding care. Find your place - The overview - Find real care - Your first visit - The prescription - Check the pharmacy - The whole bill - After the visit - Pause and check - The reading list Take it at your pace. Go to this page’s guide U.S. information as of September 2026. What an online consultation involves Read the source behind the answer # A closer look, one question at a time. Check a licence in the public record. Read what an online visit should include. Look at what a weight-loss study found and who took part. Each source answers a different question. Health and Human Services · U.S. department ## Which state’s licence matters? This government guide explains that the patient’s location matters to the clinician’s permission to practise, as checked in September 2026. This is advice about the rules. Your state’s own rules decide what the clinician must do. Read the licence guidance Federation of State Medical Boards ## Where can I check a doctor’s record? This directory leads to the state medical boards, where doctor licence records are held. Use the state board record to check the name and licence. A record with no public action against the doctor cannot establish the quality of their care. Open the state board directory Federation of State Medical Boards ## What makes an online assessment more than a form? The national group offers guidance for state medical boards to use when setting their rules. It says the care standard should be equal for visits online and in person. The clinician must be able to ask for more health details. Your state’s rules decide what the clinician must follow. The national guidance is advice to the boards, rather than a law for every state. Read the assessment guidance U.S. Food and Drug Administration ## How do I check the pharmacy? The FDA’s page links to each state’s pharmacy licence records. It advises against using a pharmacy that is missing from the list. Finding the pharmacy’s licence is one check. Still ask about the exact medicine, the prescription, and how the medicine will be sent. Open the pharmacy lookup U.S. Food and Drug Administration ## What does pharmacy-made mean? FDA explains compounding: preparing a medicine to address a need that ready-made products may fail to meet. Its September 2026 information states that compounded drugs do not have FDA approval. This page explains making medicine to order. Ask the prescriber which rule allows the exact medicine offered to you. Read about compounding U.S. Food and Drug Administration ## What changed after the shortages? FDA’s dated updates explain that semaglutide and tirzepatide are off the national shortage list. Federal rules limit making copies of ready-made medicines over and over or in very large amounts. The information used here is from September 2026. Your local pharmacy running out does not put a medicine on the national shortage list. Read the dated policy updates New England Journal of Medicine · via PubMed ## What did the semaglutide study find? STEP 1 is the name of this semaglutide weight-loss study. Adults without diabetes receiving semaglutide lost 14.9% of their weight on average. Those given a dummy shot lost 2.4%, over the same 68 weeks. The study included regular visits and support for food and activity changes. The medicine’s maker helped fund it. These averages describe the adults in this study. They do not tell you how much weight you will lose. Open the semaglutide study New England Journal of Medicine · via PubMed ## What did the tirzepatide study find? SURMOUNT-1 is the name of this tirzepatide weight-loss study. Adults without diabetes lost 15.0% to 20.9% of their weight on average. The result depended on how much medicine was in each shot. The dummy-shot group lost 3.1%; the study lasted 72 weeks. The study included support for food and activity changes and had funding from the medicine’s maker. These results describe groups given different amounts of medicine. Ask the prescriber to choose the amount for your care; do not choose it from these averages. Open the tirzepatide study New England Journal of Medicine · via PubMed ## What did the liraglutide study find? The SCALE weight study enrolled adults without type 2 diabetes. The study measured weight in kilograms; the pound equivalents are shown here too. People given liraglutide lost an average of 8.4 kilograms (about 18.5 pounds) in 56 weeks. Those given a dummy shot lost 2.8 kilograms (about 6.2 pounds). These were separate studies, not one test comparing the medicines against each other. They lasted different lengths of time and enrolled different groups of adults. Their averages cannot tell you which medicine would work best for you. Open the liraglutide study Follow your consultation question Turn the question you still have into a note for the visit. Prepare your questions The reading list Plain-text copy Back to the top This guide helps you navigate online care; we operate no clinic and sell no medicine.