A licence check starts with a named person.

Get the full name for the licence search

Get the person’s full professional name, the state covered by their authority and the board that keeps the record. Keep the answer specific enough to look up.

State medical boards show whether a doctor has a licence and whether the board has disciplined them or filed formal charges. Discipline means action over a failure to follow professional rules. The details shown vary by state. A record showing no discipline is not a rating of care quality.

Some states separate doctors’ records between different boards, so a search at one board may not cover them all. For links to those boards, the source notes include the national medical-board federation’s directory.

Make the record check

Use the medical-board directory in the source notes for a doctor check. For a clinician with a different professional title, ask which board to use rather than treating a doctor lookup as a search of every profession.

Check a pharmacy separately

The FDA links readers to state pharmacy licence records through its pharmacy-check page. A pharmacy licence confirms a licence record; it does not prove that every preparation is appropriate.

An online service can leave the maker of a medicine unclear to the patient, the FDA notes. Ask for that name so there is something specific to check.

A drug code does not mean approval

As verified September 26, 2026, an entry in the FDA’s National Drug Code directory does not establish FDA approval. A drug code identifies a listed product; it is not a treatment endorsement.