Open the state board’s own website and check the name
State medical boards publish doctors’ licence details and disciplinary actions: steps taken over a doctor’s conduct.
Use the medical-board federation’s list to reach your state’s board. Look for its licence or physician search.
A physician is a doctor. The board may use that word in its search label.
Match the full name
Request the doctor’s licence details and full name from the practice. Match those details with the public record, rather than relying on a photograph or a similar name.
Read what the record can establish
The state board’s record may list a doctor’s licence, public action against them and formal charges still under review. States differ in the details they publish.
Even with no public action recorded, you cannot use that result to establish the quality of a doctor’s care.
Also ask whether this doctor can help with the concern you want to bring.
Check the relevant doctor board
Some states have one board for doctors with MD after their name and another for doctors with DO after their name. A DO is called an osteopathic doctor.
If the name does not appear, check which board holds that doctor’s record before drawing a conclusion.
Read beside this note
- What medical boards publish
The federation explains how to read a doctor’s licence record and any public action against them. These details cannot tell you how good a visit would be.