subject: How To Find A Doctor In A New City [print this page] It used to be a bit of a challenge to find a doctor when you moved to a new area. You could ask your real estate agent who they recommended. You could simply look through the phone book and hope for the best. Or you could ask your coworkers at your new job. But none of those ways were particularly successful or satisfying. If you've recently moved and are in need of a new physician, there are better ways to go about it. Here are some tips you can use to find a doctor.
As a good first step, check with you health insurance company. Most insurance plans come with networks of doctors for their customers to see. If you have such a plan, you can eliminate probably more than fifty percent of the doctors available right off the bat. But some insurance plans go a step further and offer special discounted rates for preferred physicians.
If your insurance company does this, you know that they have arrived at their preferred physicians through an algorithm weighing costs, time, and care given. Granted, the things the insurance company is looking for in a physician may not be the same things you are, but you will definitely save some money if you go to those who are highly ranked.
If letting your health insurance company make the decision doesn't quite sound right to you, maybe you would prefer to check out what your fellow patients have to say. Several websites now allow patients to post up reviews and opinions about their office visits and appointments. The largest of these have amassed enormous databases of physicians, meaning it is very likely you will be able to find quite a bit of information about your local healthcare.
Read through the opinions and see if any of the physicians run away with the consensus. Remember that one or two reviews aren't likely to mean anything one way or the other. A slew of opinions leaning one way, however, could be a very good indication as to how well you will like that particular physician.
If you really want to find a doctor you can form a long lasting partnership with, though, you're going to have to start making appointments. No one ever said the first physician you see has to be the last, right? See a few different ones and weigh your decision after you've had the chance to compare. Maybe you'll get lucky and find the one you love the first time out.
