California primer · licence first
Two names to check before care
A polished page gives you a clinician name and a pharmacy name. Those names are the start of the check, not the end.
Picture this
The service may sit across the country. What matters is where the patient is during the visit and which pharmacy sends the medicine.
Check the clinician
California’s free public licence search covers doctors, physician assistants, and nurses. Medical doctors have M.D. after their name. Osteopathic doctors have D.O. and are licensed by their own state board. Physician assistants work under a supervising doctor. Nurse practitioners are nurses who need a separate certificate to prescribe. Look up whoever will decide your treatment. A record shows whether a licence is current. It also shows whether the board has ever disciplined the person, such as with a suspension, probation, or limits on their practice.
Check the pharmacy
The California Board of Pharmacy has separate searches for pharmacies and for sterile compounding. That is the extra licence a pharmacy needs to make germ-free medicine to order, including pharmacies in other states that ship into California. If your medicine is an injection made to order, check that licence too. A licence confirms permission to operate; it is not a promise about a particular prescription.
Match the details
Use the exact personal name of the clinician and the exact pharmacy name shown on the label or care paperwork. A brand name may not be the licence name.
California licence information here was checked as of September 2026.
Next in the guideSee how a California online visit works