Raise your hand if you agree that shopping around for a good primary care physician, or even just figuring out how to find a good doctor in your area, feels intimidating.
Why is it so hard to find a good doctor?
The first step to finding your new doctor is fairly simple. You go online and type, “good doctor near me.” The search engine throws up lists of names and headshots, but still, instead of relief you feel rising anxiety because you still have to pick someone from the array of choices available.
The most probable reason for your anxiety is that you’re looking for a long-term association. You don’t just want a “primary care doctors near me”, but someone who will walk alongside on your healthcare journey, through the inevitable ups and downs that come with age and illness.
Actually, that’s not quite correct. What you’re really hoping to find is a doctor who remains one step ahead, knows when to warn you of impending disaster, and helps you prepare for any eventualities.
You’ve searched “How to find a good doctor near me.” Now what?
If you’re looking for a new doctor because you’re unhappy with your current care provider, then you will probably know exactly what you want and don’t want from your potential physician.
But if your current care provider has retired, has moved away, or if you’ve moved to a new locality, or if this is the first time you’re committing to a care provider, here are some steps to make the process easier.
Step 1: Define your specific needs
Here’s something to think about: the search for a good doctor doesn’t begin with Google search results. It begins with your own person.
Get a pen and some paper, or pull up a writing app, and start listing your health concerns. Some questions to consider are:
- Have I already been diagnosed with a chronic illness?
- Have I been hospitalized for any health issues?
- What are some of my problems (my legs hurt, I can’t sleep, certain foods now make me ill even though I’ve been eating them forever)?
- Do I have any health conditions that might require somewhat special equipment to check?
- Am I mobile enough, or do I have someone to drive me to a clinic that’s a certain distance away?
Putting all this information down gives you some direction as to where to start looking.
Step 2: Ask friends and family for referrals
Your social circle can be an invaluable tool when searching for a good primary care physician. Ask your friends, neighbors, work colleagues, your car repair guy.
If your current provider is retiring or moving away, you can even ask them. Most would be glad to refer you to a capable fellow doctor.
Step 3: Look to community events for senior adults
Many senior centers hold breakfasts, ice cream afternoons, lunches, and other such events where representatives of local clinics conduct patient participation and wellness workshops. These are good opportunities to gauge what kind of care you could expect from a primary care physician and their support teams affiliated with that particular clinic.
Step 4: Check your Medicare health plan for coverage and networks
Patients enrolled in Original Medicare have a much wider scope for primary care physicians. You are not restricted to finding a good doctor in your area, you can go to just about any doctor that accepts assignment, anywhere in the US.
What is ‘assignment’ in medical terms?
Accepting assignment is a medical billing term. It means the doctor has agreed to take whatever payment amount Medicare has approved for a healthcare service. If you have Original Medicare and are seeing a new doctor for the first time, always confirm, before actual service is provided, that they accept assignment.
There are 2 kinds of assignment-accepting care providers.
- Participating: They take the Medicare-approved amount as full payment and do not charge you anything extra.
- Non-participating: They may charge up to 15% more than the Medicare-approved payment amount.
Care professionals who do not accept Medicare assignment are known as ‘Opt-out Providers’. There are very, very few such physicians, but it is always a smart idea to confirm beforehand.
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan
Patients with a Medicare Advantage plan, also known as Part C, may find that they need to limit their search to in-network doctors.
All insurance companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans have doctor directories listing the names and contact details of care providers in the insurance company’s coverage network.
These directories are usually found as an easily navigable page on the insurance company’s website, but you may also be able to request a printed copy.
On the insurance companies’ websites, you can usually search for a doctor using your area code, and then narrow the search further by specific health plan, health category, specialty, and so on.
Step 5: Check ‘Star’ ratings
Medicare maintains a database of doctors on its website. This database provides an overview of their areas of specialization, certifications, hospital affiliations, services offered, and in many cases, ‘Star’ ratings based on performance and quality.
Using the database’s built-in Care-Compare tool, you can compare up to three providers in one go, making it easier to choose the one that’s right for you.
Step 6: Get firsthand experience by visiting the clinic for a trial run
Call your prospective physician’s clinic and find out if it is strictly by appointment, or do they accommodate walk-in patients as well. If the former, make an appointment. If the latter, you should be able to go at any time that is convenient for you.
A check list can be very useful during your clinic observation
You can make a checklist and take it along, but be discreet when ticking it off. You don’t want to give the impression of being a mystery shopper and thus get the best of what the care team has to offer. You want to see what sort of environment, atmosphere, and behavior you can expect from the staff as a matter of routine.
A few things you might like to consider during your on-site visit:
- Number of patients: The general assumption is that a packed waiting room means the doctor is good. After all, that’s why so many patients want to see them, right? However, too many patients may also mean longer wait times and shorter actual consultation times.
- Consultation time: Make a note of when other patients go in, and how long it takes for them to come back out. According to this survey, the most common amount of time spent with a patient appears to be between 17 and 24 minutes. If most patients are averaging this much, you will probably be allotted the same amount of time with the doctor.
- Number of doctors in the practice: A positive side effect of being a patient at a multi-physician clinic is that although you may primarily be a patient of Dr. A, you will be known to the Nurse Practitioners and other APPs at the clinic. In the event that Dr. A is not available, they will be able to quickly bring Dr. B up to speed on your medical history.
On the other hand, Dr. B might decide to prescribe a drug without the explicit approval of your primary doctor, Dr. A, leaving you unsure of whether you should take it.
- Front desk staff: Is the person at the reception counter professional, welcoming, and respectful? What about the Nurse Practitioners? The no-nonsense nurse is a popular trope in television shows, but being rude and curt with patients does not fly in real life.
Patients showing up for a doctor’s appointment may be nervous if not outright scared, and a snappish nurse, however competent they may be, is not the kind of person they want to encounter as soon as they step into the clinic.
Step 7: Evaluate your consultation
Meeting the doctor is the ultimate test of whether you would like to continue seeing them in the long run.
A couple of things that may help you make your final decision are:
- Did they listen to you? In a survey asking people what they wanted from their care providers, nearly 9 out of 10 patients stated they valued a doctor who listened to them. The other top responses were wanting a doctor who was caring and compassionate, and a doctor who explained well.
- So, did they explain well? Medical terminology can be complicated and confusing and doctors, who know these terms inside out, may not realize that to a patient it probably sounds like a foreign language. Did your potential long-term care provider spray you with jargon, or did they speak in simple, non-industry language to make sure you understood?
- Did they talk to you, or with you? A good doctor, who has spent years treating patients, would certainly know plenty about illness and disease, but you are the one who knows your own body. Did they ask questions and take your personal experiences into account before drawing up a treatment plan?
- Did they recommend any preventative screenings? This is especially important for breast cancer and prostate cancer, the risk of which rises with age. Medicare Part B covers a free screening for several kinds of cancer and your doctor should advise you to get screened if you haven’t already.
- Did they look into your vaccination history? Older adults should ideally get certain vaccinations to reduce their risk of seasonal illnesses and hospitalization. Since this is the first meeting, the potential doctor may not have access to your electronic medical record (EMR) and therefore should ask you about any vaccinations.
- Were they pushy about tests and/or drugs? It is not unheard of for doctors to prescribe expensive lab tests that aren’t really needed, or superfluous medications that do more harm than good. In fact, in an ideal scenario, your new doctor would go through your medications and weed out any that were not absolutely essential to your health and well-being.
Seal the deal
You’ve followed all the steps, you’ve got all the information, you’ve also factored your gut feeling into the equation. You’re ready to commit to your new doctor. You can now have your medical records transferred to your new care provider, and look forward to getting comprehensive, personalized care for years to come.