On September 26, 2026, semaglutide prescribing had no federal requirement for a visit in person. State rules can still require one.
Tell the doctor where you will be sitting for the appointment, then ask which state’s rules govern it. The state medical board can help you check the answer.
Choose the kind of conversation you need.
An online visit and an in-person clinic are both categories of care to consider. Begin with the question you want answered, rather than a treatment menu.
A group of state boards that oversee doctors recommends how online visits ought to work. These recommendations do not replace state law.
That guidance expects online care to meet the standard of care of an office visit.
Under this guidance, the doctor must arrange any tests the assessment needs. The doctor must also arrange an examination in person if an online visit is not enough.
Ask whether the health question fits a remote visit. A plan can include care away from the screen.
Check the person who will assess you.
HHS guidance allows a licence or another route recognised by that state’s rules.
For a doctor, the state medical board holds the public licence record and published disciplinary history.
Ask for the doctor’s full name and the state under which they will see you. Follow the medical-board directory on the reading shelf to the actual board record.
That record reports public actions; it does not grade a doctor’s skill.
Let the assessment lead to the next decision.
The recommended policy checked September 26, 2026 rejects deciding what illness you have or prescribing from a fixed online form alone.
With an interactive assessment, the doctor can come back to you for more information after reading your answers. Ask how that happens: by another message, a call or another visit. The ability to ask more questions does not, by itself, make the assessment complete.
Use the recommendations to understand the visit. Check your state’s law for what it requires.
State rules vary, including how a relationship can begin online; that is the position recorded September 26, 2026.
- What information is missing before we can decide?
- Could a visit in person change the answer?
- What happens if medicine is not the right next step?