How do I check the clinician and pharmacy?
When a health professional assesses you, that person is called a clinician. Check that person and the pharmacy separately.
Ask for the person’s full name, professional title and license number. Ask for the pharmacy’s full name too. A service name alone is not enough to look up the people involved.
Where do I check the person?
In Illinois, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, known as IDFPR, licenses health professionals and pharmacies.
A license is state permission to practice. Start with the official record rather than a badge on an ad.
IDFPR’s lookup uses MEDICAL BOARD for doctor searches.
Its other search types cover nurses, physician assistants and pharmacies.
Choose the type that fits the person’s title. Search the name or license number. Compare the result with the details the service gave you. Look at the status and ask about anything that does not match.
What do I check about the pharmacy?
Ask for the pharmacy name before paying for a medicine. If the medicine is made to order, ask who prepares it. Check that name, rather than stopping at the service’s name.
To send prescription medicine to people in Illinois, an out-of-state pharmacy needs the state’s nonresident license.
Nonresident means the pharmacy is located elsewhere. Ask for its Illinois permission as well as its home-state license.
A license shows the pharmacy has state permission to operate. The license alone cannot show whether the pharmacy supplies each medicine correctly.
Ask the pharmacist who prepares your medicine and who can explain its label. Compare the pharmacy name with the name you checked.
What can the record tell me?
Illinois’ public pages about doctors list their training and any certification in a type of medicine. Certification is a formal recognition of a doctor’s knowledge and training in that area. The pages also list final actions taken by licensing agencies.
Discipline means the licensing agency has taken formal action against a health professional, such as limiting a license.
A doctor’s record with no public action cannot predict the quality of the care you will receive.
If a name is missing or the details do not line up, ask the licensing agency or the service to explain. Keep a copy of the record and the date you looked. Repeat the check if the named person or pharmacy changes.