The Ohio requirements
What Ohio requires of care
Check what must happen at your visit, who may treat you and whether a pharmacy may make the proposed medicine. Start with the question that matters to you.
The online visit still has to be care
A telehealth visit uses a video link, a telephone conversation or messages exchanged online.
For a first online visit, Ohio allows a two-way phone or video call, or sending information for the clinician to review later (as of September 28, 2026). Ohio’s first-visit law
Either way, the clinician must assess your health problem and set out or confirm a treatment plan before prescribing, under Ohio’s rule checked September 28, 2026.
A phone call must cover all the parts of a proper medical visit, under the rule checked September 28, 2026. Ohio’s phone-visit rule
- Ask how follow-up questions will be handled.
- Ask whether this format can assess your concern fully.
What comes before a prescription
Ohio’s rule requires an assessment of the patient and a diagnosis, which identifies the health problem (checked September 28, 2026).
The clinician must also set out or confirm a treatment plan.
The record must explain why a prescription drug is needed and identify health conditions that may make it unsuitable (as of September 28, 2026). Read the care requirements
- Ask what health problem the treatment plan addresses.
- Ask how the clinician reached the treatment decision.
- Ask what follow-up is planned.
Where the licences fit
An Ohio licence is the usual requirement for a clinician treating a patient located in Ohio, including online (as of September 28, 2026). Read the Ohio licence rule
There is an exception if you received care from a doctor while you were in another state. The doctor must hold a licence there (as of September 28, 2026). That same doctor may give follow-up care while you are in Ohio, including online. It must be for the same health problem and within one year of your last visit with that doctor in the other state. Read the follow-up exception
This exception does not let a doctor without an Ohio licence begin treating a new patient in Ohio.
- Tell the clinician where you will be during the visit.
- For a new treatment, ask for the Ohio licence details.
The medicine has its own rules
Compounding prepares a patient’s medicine in place of a finished product from a factory.
FDA is the Food and Drug Administration.
Retatrutide and cagrilintide are drug names listed in the FDA’s warning about unapproved weight-loss products (checked September 26, 2026). Read the FDA explanation
Neither drug is FDA-approved, according to Ohio’s pharmacy board as of September 28, 2026. The board says pharmacies and clinics cannot make either drug to order under Ohio or federal law. Ohio’s medicine guidance
Semaglutide and tirzepatide have approved products whose uses include diabetes or weight loss; the use varies with the product (as of September 26, 2026).
Ohio’s pharmacy board says the national shortages of those medicines have ended (as of September 28, 2026). Pharmacies and clinics can no longer use those shortages as a reason to make copies of the approved products.
A copy is a made-to-order version with the same main drug ingredient and a similar strength, meaning the amount of drug in a dose. It is also taken in the same way, under FDA policy checked September 26, 2026.
Ohio’s guidance allows a changed version when the person writing the prescription explains what is changed and why it makes a significant difference for you. They must write that explanation on your prescription. Your name and the medicine’s recipe alone are not enough.
- Ask the exact medicine name and how it is given.
- For a medicine made to order, ask: “What is changed from the approved medicine, and why do I need that change?”