Match the online visit to your location.

Check the visit you will actually have

• Name your appointment location, including the state, before the visit.
• Ask how your health history and any needed examination will be handled.
• Ask who arranges an in-person visit if the screen is not enough.
• If travel changes your location, raise that change before the appointment.

The patient’s location counts

The medical board’s position as of September 30, 2026 places an online visit in Massachusetts if the patient is physically in the state.

That is why a service asks where you are. Its office location does not answer the location question for your visit.

A screen can be part of care

The Massachusetts policy checked September 30, 2026 allowed an online visit to come before a meeting in person. Another law may still require an in-person visit first.

The policy applies the same care standard to an online visit as to a visit in person.

Telemedicine is another word for care delivered at a distance. Ask the service whether your care requires an in-person visit first and which rule applies. This guide cannot decide that for an unnamed treatment.

The assessment still has substance

The board’s prescribing policy, checked September 30, 2026, calls for an adequate health history, a fitting examination and recorded findings, including for online prescriptions.

Ask how those parts fit into the proposed appointment. “I filled in a form” does not tell you what a clinician has reviewed or what they still need to ask.

Next sheet · Compare the visit formats