Care from home
Telehealth means care from a distance. Video, phone calls, and online exchanges let you meet with a doctor or another health professional. Ask how questions, tests, and examinations are handled.
Explore care from homeWays to get care
Compare the route, then the care.
Put the same questions to a remote service and an in-person clinic. The useful difference is how each handles your needs.
Use the same questions for each route
| What matters | Ask remote care | Ask in-person care |
|---|---|---|
| Your health review | Remote careWho reads my history and talks through the choice? | In-person careWho sees me, and what does the visit include? |
| An exam or test | Remote careWhere would you send me if I need it? | In-person careIs it done here or arranged elsewhere? |
| The full bill | Remote careIs there a membership as well as a medicine charge? | In-person careWhich visit, test, and medicine charges are separate? |
| Between visits | Remote careWho can answer, and how do I reach them? | In-person careWho can answer, and how do I reach them? |
Choose how to meet
An in-person visit
Meet in a room. Ask what the visit includes and how care continues between appointments.
Compare visit formats →Neither way of meeting earns a recommendation on its own. Compare how each service reviews your health and plans the next steps.
Check the care and the medicine
A full health review matters in either place
State medical boards oversee doctor licences and can take action when doctors break professional rules.
Care from home must meet the professional requirements of care in a room, according to the boards’ national group, the Federation of State Medical Boards.
The group offers guidance on rules that state boards could adopt. As of September 2026, the rules a service must obey depend on the state.
Check the medicine separately from the visit
A video visit tells you how you meet. It does not identify what is in the medicine.
Ask separately whether the product is approved, made to order, or labelled for research rather than for people to take. Get the names of both the maker and the sender.
Compare those product types →