Next, check the care
Look past the pitch.
Check the names.
Before you agree to a plan, find out who will treat you, their full name and job title, and the pharmacy’s name. Then use the official records to check their licences.
In a room or online: ask how care works.
At a clinic, you can sit with someone and talk face to face. For care by video, phone, or online messages (telehealth), ask how to share records, ask questions, and reach the person treating you after the visit.
North Carolina’s Medical Board expects an equal standard of care in online and face-to-face visits, as of September 28, 2026.
The board says care can begin online without an earlier in-person visit if it meets that standard, as of September 28, 2026.
The board also expects the person treating you to arrange an in-person exam or tests when needed, as of September 28, 2026.
Ask what would make the person treating you switch from online care to an in-person visit.
Match the name to the right board.
Doctors and physician assistants
Physician assistants hold a medical licence and may assess and treat health problems and prescribe within North Carolina’s rules, as of September 28, 2026.
The Medical Board’s free search shows whether a doctor or physician assistant holds a licence, along with public decisions about professional conduct.
Match the full name, then open the record. Read the licence status and decisions about professional conduct as part of the check.
Search the Medical Board’s records ↗
Nurse practitioners
In North Carolina, prescribing by nurse practitioners, who are nurses, must follow a written agreement with a supervising doctor, as of September 28, 2026.
Check a nurse practitioner in the Board of Nursing’s search; the Medical Board’s doctor-and-assistant search does not include them.
The pharmacy
The Board of Pharmacy runs a separate free search for pharmacy and pharmacist licences.
A pharmacy outside North Carolina needs the state’s permit before sending a prescription drug into it, as of September 28, 2026.
Ask which pharmacy will actually fill the order. Use that name in the search.
Pause when an answer goes missing.
The Medical Board’s position as of September 28, 2026: a prescription must involve more than a standard online form asking everyone identical questions.
The board expects whoever treats you to have a way to question you further about those answers.
Ask who reads your answers and how they will discuss anything that needs more explanation. A form can be part of checking your health; ask how the rest happens.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) handles U.S. reviews of drug products.
If someone has suggested a peptide for your health problem, bring its written name and what they say it would treat. Two names to check against what you were given are below.
Neither retatrutide nor BPC-157 had an FDA-approved U.S. drug product for any health problem on September 26, 2026.
Ask the person assessing your health to explain what evidence supports the proposed use. A suggested use is different from an approved use.
FDA says federal law does not allow retatrutide to be made to order by a pharmacy, as of September 26, 2026.
“FDA registered” meant the business had sent its own information to FDA, as of September 26, 2026; the phrase did not establish approval for its medicines.
A medicine appearing in FDA’s drug records is also not proof of approval.
Ask which exact medicine the seller says has approval and what it is approved to treat.
Ask about problems before they happen.
Reports sent to FDA by September 26, 2026 described dosing errors involving compounded semaglutide, including cases that needed hospital care.
Have your prescriber or pharmacist explain the prescription and tell you how to get help between visits.
Trouble breathing or tongue swelling can signal a severe allergic reaction: dial 911 or head straight to the closest emergency room.
Doctors and physician assistants can be the subject of a Medical Board complaint; disagreements over bills are beyond what the board can settle.
Endnotes for this chapter
- Medical Board: advice for online visits
Checking your health, care after the visit, and arranging an exam.
- Medical Board: what a position statement is
How the board uses these statements.
- Medical Board: understanding a licence record
What appears in its public doctor and assistant search.
- General Assembly: physician assistants and prescribing
The state rules behind that role.
- Board of Nursing: licence search
Where to check a nursing licence.
- Board of Pharmacy: permit search
The state board links to its permit search.
- General Assembly: out-of-state pharmacies
The state permit requirement.
- FDA: product concerns and reported errors
Research products, retatrutide, and compounded semaglutide.
- FDA: reading a drug-code listing
A directory entry is not proof of approval.
- FDA: understanding approval claims
Why a business filing its details with FDA is different from medicine approval.
- MedlinePlus: severe allergic reactions
Emergency symptoms and getting urgent help.
- Medical Board: complaint questions
What a complaint can and cannot resolve.