Physician-reviewed · sourced to the statutes
Yes, when a physician licensed in your state reviews your case. Here are the three tests, and the sources they come from.
Licensed where you are
A physician licensed in the state where you are reviewed your case.
Same standard of care
The physician evaluated you to the same standard as in an office, whether the exchange was live or written.
Verifiable, without your diagnosis
The note carries what an employer needs: who signed it, when, and for which dates. It never needs your diagnosis.
This is the rule every state medical board applies, and it does not change online. The Federation of State Medical Boards puts it plainly: “A physician must be licensed, or appropriately authorized, by the medical board of the state where the patient is located. The practice of medicine occurs where the patient is located at the time that telemedicine technologies are used” (FSMB, 2022, Section Two). The federal telehealth office says the same thing in one line: a full license from the state’s licensing board “permits a provider to legally practice in that state” (HHS, licensing across state lines).
So the first question to ask any online service is not “is this a video visit?” but “is the doctor licensed in my state, and can I check?” Our physician’s licenses are listed by state below, with the NPI you can look up in the federal registry.
Telemedicine, in the boards’ own definition, is “the practice of medicine using electronic communication, information technology or other means of interaction between a licensee in one location and a patient in another location” (FSMB, 2022, Section One). A video call is one such means. A written intake reviewed by a physician is another. The federal telehealth office describes that second kind, asynchronous or “store-and-forward” care, as care where “providers review information sent by the patient to diagnose and treat an issue”, and lists patient intake as one of its usual uses (HHS, asynchronous direct-to-consumer telehealth).
What does not change is the standard. A physician using telemedicine “must take appropriate steps to establish the physician-patient relationship and conduct all appropriate evaluations and history taking of the patient consistent with established, evidence-based standards of care”, and where that standard cannot be met without an in-person visit, telemedicine is not appropriate (FSMB, 2022, Section One). That is why a legitimate service can decline you. Ours does: a request the physician cannot document is refunded, and some conditions are sent for in-person care instead of a note.
Federal guidance lets an employer ask you to justify sick leave with a doctor’s note, as long as it asks every employee the same way (EEOC, question 15). Several states limit that for short absences under their paid-sick-leave laws, and two prohibit it; our state checker shows the rule with the statute.
What the note has to say is less than most people think. Even for a formal FMLA certification, the Department of Labor states the provider “may, but is not required to, provide a diagnosis” (DOL Fact Sheet #28G). A work note that names the physician, the license, the dates and a way to verify it is complete. Every SickSlip note carries a QR code and a document ID an employer can check on our verification page, and reveals nothing about your health beyond the excused dates.
Dr. Adam Z. Kawalek, MD (NPI 1326223306, board-certified internal medicine) holds an active license in the 29 states below, and the site only accepts requests from those states. Where we have verified the state’s own telemedicine statute or board rule, it is linked; the rest are listed without a link rather than with a guess.
License in process: New Jersey. Requests from this state open the day the state board shows the license active.
License status is shown on the physician page; the NPI is public at the federal NPI registry.
The tests above are the test. Apply them to any service: a named physician whose license you can check in your state, a real evaluation that can end in a “no”, and a note an employer can verify. We have written the practical version of that checklist twice already, in how to tell a real telehealth service from a note-only website and in our comparison of online doctor’s note services, which also answers whether a legitimate note requires a live video visit (it does not).
Does a doctor’s note have to come from a video visit to be legal?
No. The boards define telemedicine by the physician-patient interaction and the standard of care, not by the medium. Written intake reviewed by a licensed physician is the form the federal telehealth office describes as asynchronous care.
Can my employer refuse a note because it came from an online service?
An employer can set its own attendance policy, and some name the kind of documentation they accept. What they cannot do is single you out: the same rule has to apply to everyone. If a note is questioned, the fastest answer is verification, which is why ours carry a QR code and a document ID.
Is a note from a doctor licensed in another state valid?
The practice of medicine happens where the patient is. A physician not licensed or authorized in your state should not be issuing you a note, and that is the first thing a careful HR department will check.
Read and checked against the text above on 2026-09-22. Reviewed by Dr. Adam Z. Kawalek, MD on 2026-09-22.
Not legal advice. Policies and statutes change; the sources linked are the authority.