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The BPC
question kit

A guide to checking care

Your notes
Chapter index

Visit desk

Bring your concern. Ask for a plan.

Begin by explaining the problem you want help with at this visit. Ask the clinician to explain how they would assess it before discussing a particular substance.

Prepare a short account.

Write down what bothers you, when it started, what makes daily life hard and what you have already tried. Bring your medicine and supplement list to the conversation.

Ask how the visit will work.

With telehealth, the visit happens at a distance, for example by video or through an online exchange. Find out who will assess you, how to put questions to them and what the next step will be.

Choosing a treatment by menu alone falls short of the care standard under the Federation of State Medical Boards’ guidance, which was adopted in May 2026.

The guidance also requires that patients have a way to raise follow-up questions.

Read the basisMedical boards’ prescribing guidance, PDF

This group publishes guidance for state boards; each state sets its own enforceable rules.

Find out what needs an examination.

Under the medical boards’ telehealth policy, when an assessment calls for tests or an in-person examination, the clinician must arrange the tests or make the examination referral.

Read the basisMedical boards’ telehealth policy, PDF

Leave with a reason and a next step.

  • What do you think is causing my problem, and what remains unclear?

  • What other options fit this problem, including waiting or further assessment?

  • What changes would we check for, and when would we take another look at the plan?

  • Once the visit is over, whom can I contact with questions, and how?

Open the notes for your conversation