Credentials notes / check the person

Get a name. Check the record.

A website name is not enough to look up the person treating you. Ask for the clinician’s full name, role and licence number.

Start this check

Words used in this note

Licence: A state’s authorization to practise.
Public discipline: A formal board action shown in the public record.
Collaborating doctor: The doctor named in a nurse practitioner’s care agreement.

Find the doctor’s public record

Match the name on the record with the person expected at the visit.

Alabama board record

Start with the medical search

Alabama’s medical licence search shows whether a doctor’s licence is active, when it began and expires, and any public action by the board.

Read any public action in context. Save the record or write down what it shows.

Open Alabama’s medical licence search

Search the full name or licence number.
Read the current status and expiry date.
Open any linked public action.
Resolve a name or number mismatch with the service.

Check the role as well as the name

Nurse practitioners are nurses who have completed advanced training. A physician assistant is a health professional working within an approved medical role.

As of October 1, 2026, Alabama physician assistants must be registered to a supervising doctor and cannot practise without supervision.

As of October 1, 2026, Alabama nurse practitioners follow written care rules approved by the medical and nursing boards and signed by a collaborating doctor.

Ask who is making the treatment decision.
If a nurse practitioner or physician assistant is treating you, ask which doctor supports that clinician’s care.
Match the role to the record you are reading.

Open the nursing licence lookup Check medical registrations

What a clear record can tell you

A public record is a useful check, with a limit.

A record with no public discipline does not prove how skilled a clinician is; it means no public board action appears there.

Alabama keeps patient complaints and investigations private; they are not part of the public licence record.

Use the record to check identity and status.
Use the visit to assess whether the explanations answer your questions.
Do not turn the absence of a public action into a guarantee.

Keep a small record of your check

Leave room for the answer you still need.

Clinician name and role.
Licence number and current status.
Date you looked up the record.
Any mismatch and how it was explained.

Open the paper checklist

Keep going

Understand an online visit in Alabama