Hello everyone,
How does one go about finding a primary care physician, also known as a PCP, or a specialist
such as an endocrinologist or a cardiologist?
You could go with recommendations from your primary care physician, friends, or family.
For me, I've learned that my former PCPs would refer me to their friends, who were
NOT positively reviewed by their patients, And friends and family would recommend doctors
who just weren't a fit for me.
In the end, finding doctors who work well with me is a process that requires due diligence,
research, and trial and error.
The first step in the search process is consulting the online Insurance Participating Provider
Directory Some insurance provides this in a physical
book form, however, the online directory may be updated more quickly and has search features
where you can filter by location, languages, and other factors.
Online directories are also updated more quickly and will show newly added doctors and will
remove doctors who have opted not to accept the insurance anymore.
From there I created a list covering doctors
who are In my area or easily accessible through public
transportation If I am very sick, I do not want to travel
far to see my doctor.
Make sure the doctor is affiliated with respectable hospitals
Sadly, even if a doctor looks promising, I steer clear if he or she is associated with
bad hospitals.
This is an extra for my mom, is the doctor or is the doctor's office able to communicate
in other languages?
When searching for a PCP for my mother I needed to find one who could speak with her in her
native tongue.
I cannot always accompany my mother to doctor's appointments. Furthermore, if information
can be given in one's native tongue, there is better understanding between doctor and
patient.
To further filter the list I may go by certification or schooling, however, those are not major
tellers of a good doctor.
I will usually start with doctors closest to my location for convenience.
Then call and confirm with the insurance company that the doctors are still participating providers.
Sometimes the provider directory is outdated.
Next, conduct research.
Read reviews from sites such as: Yelp
Zocdoc WebMD
Healthgrades Vitals
This can further narrow down your list, however, please take these with a grain of salt as
they are not comprehensive.
That is why I listed so many because I have had to jump to different sites to get a better
picture of a doctor, (if he or she was reviewed at all).
And sometimes it is hard for a patient to judge a doctor's competence.
But if there are a lot of bad reviews, it is a good indicator to cross the doctor off
your list.
I have these links in the description.
Through these review sites you can also determine
how long a doctor has been practicing medicine or conducting surgery.
There are pros and cons to this.
A doctor may have many years of experience, but he or she may be set in their ways.
A young doctor may be very new, but he or she may be open to new information.
This is why finding a doctor that is the right fit for you is so important.
I have had very experienced doctors who were good for other patients, but they would brush
off what I have had to say about my experiences with my own health.
Now it's time to contact each doctor's
office to see how receptive they are.
Ask the following questions: Are they accepting new patients?
If they say, 'No,' you can mark them off the list.
Even if the provider directory says that they are, the directory may not have the most up
to date info.
If they are accepting new patients, confirm that they accept your insurance.
I have had instances where the insurance company said that a doctor was a participating provider,
but the doctor's staff denied it.
Or when my PCP would write me a referral to a doctor only to find out that they stopped
being a provider months ago.
Ask for the office hours and location.
Insurance provider directories do not provide office hours.
Doctors may have multiple offices where they work at on different days and times so you
do want this information handy.
Ask how many staff members work in the doctor's office.
If a doctor has limited hours and very few staff members, these could be bad signs.
My last PCP had these issues.
The staff gets overwhelmed with dealing with multiple insurance rules and regulations and
too many patients and the associated work.
They were always tired and angry, and they would take their frustrations out on the patients.
Are walk-ins allowed?
If you are very sick you need to be able to come in without making an appointment.
But it's good to call the office anyway so they can give you an approximate time to
come in to minimize the wait or they can try to squeeze you in between appointments.
The responses and how they are given may be
a good sign of the customer service
Are they curt but professional?
Do they have an attitude and are they practically yelling at you?
Are they friendly and welcoming?
Some people may say, "If the doctor is wonderful, what does the staff matter?"
The receptionist and the other staff members are the traffic controllers of the office.
They are in charge of setting appointments, running in office procedures like EKGs, receiving
and recording your results from testing facilities, informing the doctor of your test results,
getting pre approvals for procedures, and a slew of other tasks.
Poor front desk operators do not run the office smoothly or they hate their jobs.
They can decide to inconvenience you as much as they can and if you complain they can make
things worse.
It becomes more than just a case of bad customer service, they can end up affecting your health
by delaying or preventing medical care that you might need.
For example, this happened to me with my previous PCP.
I needed the results of a blood test so that the doctor could issue me a prescription.
The doctor told me to call back the next week to find out the results.
When I called, the front desk got very angry and told me that they would call me when the
results came in.
I finally received a call a month later.
I asked to speak with the doctor about issuing me my prescription.The staff refused to transfer
my call.
They told me I had to schedule another appointment, but the doctor was completely booked for the
next few weeks.
When it comes to abuse situations, you can
definitely report them.
But I've learned to spot the red flags and I just switch doctors instead of dealing with
a lot problems that could happen down the road.
If you would like to share some doctor office horror stories, feel free to comment below
or message me.
If you all would like I can do a video on those in the future.
Please let me know in the comments below.
After getting all this information you have now narrowed down your list.
If you want to go even further you can also check out if a doctor has had a history of
misconduct and even the 'benefits' they have received from pharmaceutical companies
to hawk their products.
Use the Professional Misconduct & Physician Discipline site to check out a doctor's
background.
I put the link in the description.
I usually do not judge a doctor by one or two lawsuits that could have been filed for
very frivolous reasons.
However, if there is a long list of lawsuits, I would probably stay clear.
I often see drug representatives visiting doctors' offices.
My former PCP also pushed a drug on me for a condition I thought was non-existent.
'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' did a great segment on this called, "Marketing
to Doctors," which got it all to make sense.
Pharmaceutical companies will give anywhere from a free lunch to money for 'speaking
engagements' for a doctor to promote certain drug products to their patients.
I put the link to this clip in the description, along with the links to ProPublica's Dollars
for Docs site and the government's Open Payments Data site where you can check out
if and how much a doctor has accepted from pharmaceutical companies.
If a doctor is really raking in the bucks from big pharma, I would really consider crossing
him or her off your list.
The final step is trial and error.
When you choose a new PCP, inform your insurance company and ask when the change will be effective.
Double check on that date if the insurance company really did push the change through
before making your first appointment with your new physician.
For a specialist, check with your PCP or with your insurance plan, if you need a referral
before making your first appointment.
After your first visit you can start to make an accurate assessment of whether or not the
physician is a good fit for you.
You also get to see what the front desk is really like.
Also, talk with other patients in the waiting room.
They are usually pretty frank about their experiences.
It is good to have a list of doctors handy because if you find that you and the new physician
don't mesh, you can change and try someone else.
Summary
Years of experience, being board certified, or graduating from a great school could guarantee
a good doctor, but it doesn't necessarily guarantee that the doctor is a fit for you.
In the end, look for a physician that is: Within your insurance plan
Accessible Knowledgeable and caring.
Does he or she: Spend time with you
Provide good communication Show conscientiousness
Have a good front desk Have extended hours
In summary, looking for a good doctor is a very involved process.
We wouldn't buy a car or a house, or apply to colleges without really evaluating all
our options.
Selecting a good physician also takes effort, but the possible benefit would be finding
a great doctor that you trust.
Thanks for watching everyone.
Do you have anymore tips on finding a great doctor?
Please comment below!
And remember to like, share, and subscribe.
Have a great day, and I'll see you next time!
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