How to Find a Primary Care Doctor

Choosing a primary care doctor is not difficult, but it does take some research. Follow these steps to a successful search.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Call your health insurance company or look on the company website to identify primary care doctors covered under your plan in your area. Ask your family, friends, or current doctor if they are familiar with any of them.
2. Once you identify several doctors in your area, make an appointment to meet each of them.
3. During your meeting, ask the doctor about his or her special interests, health philosophy, billing policies, procedures for making appointments, asking questions after hours, and his or her philosophy of the doctor/patient relationship. Take note of how you feel when talking to him or her. Can you picture you and your family discussing health and other personal matters with this doctor? Does this doctor view your relationship as a partnership or a hierarchy?
4. Congratulations! The research you have done to find the right primary care doctor for you will pay off in a rich and rewarding doctor/patient relationship.

Tips & Warnings

• When making an appointment to see a doctor for the first time, double check to make sure that doctor accepts your health insurance.
• If you would like to check to see if your doctor has had any disciplinary actions against him or her, call the Federation of State Medical Boards at 817-868-4000. You will be given the number for your state medical board.