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The Texas care notebook
Care through a screen
# An online visit is still a care visit.
Telehealth means seeing a clinician by video, phone or online exchange. Before the visit, ask how the assessment works and how to reach the clinician with a question afterward.
As of September 2026.
A few words, made clear
Store-and-forward means sending health information for a clinician to review later. It is different from speaking together live.
Get clear
## Name your visit location
As of September 2026.
When a doctor in another state treats someone located in Texas, that doctor is practising medicine in Texas.
Texas generally requires a full Texas medical licence. One exception is for doctors who held Texas's out-of-state online-care licence on September 1, 2022. Another concerns an occasional specialist consultation with a Texas-licensed doctor.
If an office claims an exception, ask which one and have the Texas Medical Board confirm it.
Tell the service where you will be during the visit, along with any travel you have planned. Ask how it checks the prescriber's authority for that location.
Read the source note
State text & records
Texas law on care across borders
Look closer
## Find out how the assessment happens
As of September 2026.
Texas allows a first visit by live video or a later review of relevant photos or health records. The visit must provide the care your medical problem needs.
Health records can include your health history, test results and past prescriptions.
The clinician must explain the care and get your agreement before the online visit. Texas requires the same level of care for your medical problem online as in person.
Ask how the clinician will review your health history, ask further questions and decide whether you need tests or an examination in person. Ask how to add something the form did not ask.
Read the source note
State text & records
Texas standards for online assessment
Keep asking
## Leave room for more care
Guidance from the national group of medical licensing boards says the clinician must arrange needed tests or an examination, or send you to someone who can.
Boards can use that guidance as a model; it is not a law by itself.
Ask what would lead to a test or a visit in person. Include how that step would be arranged and charged.
Read the source note
Source text
Medical-board guidance on telehealth
Carry it forward
## Know the follow-up plan
As of September 2026.
After a first online visit under these rules, Texas requires instructions about the care you may need afterward.
If you consent and have a regular doctor, a treatment report must reach that doctor within 72 hours.
Ask whom to message afterward and what to do if the plan changes. A clear answer belongs in your notes before the visit ends.
Read the source note
State text & records
Texas law on follow-up and records
Your next page
## Prepare for the conversation
Bring your history and the question that matters most to you.
## Prepare for the conversation
This notebook helps you think through care choices; it does not provide clinic care or sell medicines.
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