Visit questions / Seattle
A visit starts with
your question.
Put your reason for seeking care into words. Then ask who will assess you, what they are proposing, and how you can reach them again.
Who is actually assessing me?
Ask for the person’s full name and license type. A license is the state’s permission to do that kind of health work. Use the person’s name in the search, even if the service has a different name.
As of September 2026, Washington’s public license search shows whether a license is current and any recorded action over broken professional rules.
This search covers doctors, physician assistants, nurses, and pharmacies.
A physician assistant is a health worker who practices medicine in an agreed role with a doctor in Washington, as of September 2026.
A record free of action over broken rules gives no measure of the care’s quality.
Open Washington’s license searchWhat do the letters after a name mean?
MD means medical doctor. PA means physician assistant. ARNP means advanced registered nurse practitioner, Washington’s title for a nurse who can assess and treat health problems.
As of September 2026, a Washington nurse practitioner may assess and treat patients without a doctor supervising the care.
A nurse practitioner may prescribe within the work their license allows after separate nursing-board approval, as of September 2026.
This allowed work is called their “scope.”
Ask whether the nurse practitioner’s license record includes permission to prescribe medicines.
Can the first visit happen online?
A clinician is the health worker who assesses and treats you.
Telehealth is care by video, phone, or an online review of your information.
As of September 2026, Washington lets care with a new patient begin through telehealth, but an email or text on its own does not count.
Washington applies the same care standards to online and in-person visits, as of September 2026.
A clinician based in another state generally needs a Washington license or other Washington permission to treat you here, as of September 2026.
The limited exceptions include advice to your Washington clinician, who remains responsible for treatment, or a specialist’s opinion without treatment.
A follow-up exception applies to an existing patient temporarily visiting Washington after treatment in the clinician’s state.
It covers clinicians providing general health care, mental health care, or recognized specialist care.
If a service says an exception applies, ask which one and why it fits your visit. Ask how later questions work and how an examination or test would be arranged.
What would an assessment involve?
Bring the reason you want help, a list of medicines and supplements, and any past test results you want to discuss.
The national group of state agencies that oversee doctors says tests or an exam must be arranged when needed to assess your health.
This is guidance for those agencies, rather than a rule written just for Washington.
Ask what a test would change about the plan before agreeing to it.
What medicine, and why this one?
- What is the exact medicine name? Is the form a pill, an injection, or something else?
- What is the reason for using it in my case?
- Is it a ready-made medicine or a compounded medicine, mixed or changed to fit a patient’s need?
- Which pharmacy prepares it, and which pharmacy sends it?
- How will progress be checked?
- Who answers questions between visits?
FDA stands for Food and Drug Administration, the US agency responsible for reviewing medicines.
As of September 2026, FDA recommends compounded medicines for patients whose needs cannot be met by an FDA-approved drug.
If a made-to-order medicine is proposed, ask what need the ready-made medicine cannot meet.
Does the pharmacy check out too?
A pharmacy based in another state generally needs Washington’s nonresident pharmacy license to mail prescription drugs into Washington, as of September 2026.
The term “nonresident” tells you that a pharmacy’s base is in another state.
Use the pharmacy’s full name in the license search. Ask how to reach its pharmacist and where to find instructions for the exact product.
Check the pharmacy’s Washington licenseUnfold another care question