Since your relationship with your PCP will be a long standing one you need to focus on qualities & competence of the physician, and that of his or her practice. But before you can do that you need to identify your choices.
Start With Your Insurer
Your health care insurer is the place to start since health plans often require you to select your physicians from a specific list of providers who are in their network. If you choose one outside the network you won’t get the same level of coverage and possibly none at all, so making that mistake can be quite costly. These days most insurers have a website to help you with selecting an in-network physician. They often let you search by location, specialty, and gender. Often you’ll find information about their training and office hours. Some insurers have rating information available, too. If they don’t have such features on their website or you want to speak with a person, call the Member Services number on the back of your insurance card. Someone should be able to give you much the same information over the phone.
Do Some Research
Once you have the list, you’ll want to do a little research about them. If you are getting your insurance through work, ask your coworkers who they see and how they like them and the practice. This will give you a sense of the doctor’s bedside manner and the quality of their office staff. Remember, the office manager, receptionist, and nurses in the doctor’s office are critical to a smoothly run practice. You want to be sure that when you call with a problem, your issue is handled efficiently and brought to the attention of the doctor when appropriate. If you happen to know a nurse at the hospital where that physician practices, ask their opinion. This would give you a clinical perspective on the doctor, too.
Finally, you should check with your state’s medical licensing board to see if there are any issues with any of the physicians you are considering.
Time For An Office Visit
Once you have done this research, it is time to visit the doctor to see if you will work well together. I’ll cover how to prepare for that visit and what to look for in my next post.
For Your Health – Dr. Bob
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