Re: Changing primary care doctor

Snoopp · ‎02-02-2015

@aubnwa01 wrote:
How does one even go about looking for a totally new Dr. these days? When I moved here 10 years ago, I was still part of a group insurance plan thru my former employer & I could access a list of Drs. that took my insurance thru their website. I had made an appointment with a female internist I found on the site & when I needed refills on some meds, she was out of the office, so I saw a male internist in the same practice to fill my prescriptions. I figured since I"d seen him already, I'd have him as my PCP. The female internist that I'd originally had the appt. with ended up leaving the practice anyway soon after that.

Over the years, he started having me see the female PA in the practice for my annual routine stuff & I was fine with that, as I preferred a female anyway.

I never really quite "gelled" with the male Dr. & should've left him long ago, but here I am still one of his patients, though it's probably been 5-6 years since I've seen him, as I haven't been ill. He just refills prescriptions when I contact Costco for refills & a lot of the time, he's been less than prompt in getting back ot Costco.

I turned 65 last year, so I'm now on Medicare with a Medicare Part F Supplemental plan.

I requested refills thru Costco 8 days ago of 2 meds that I've been on for over 20 years now & am nearly out of (the scripts were always filled as 90 day supplies, a carryover from from my former employer's plan) & Costco has resent the requests mulltiple times & he's never responded to them. It's been like crickets from his end!

I called his office earlier this week & said I'm nearly out of pills & the receptionist said she'd let him know. Nothing. I called 2 days later & again she said she'd get him a message. This time, I got a call from the office saying he needs to see me & made an appointment for April 6th. I told the scheduler that I need him to refill the Rx or I will run out of pills in the next few days. All this time, I've been calling Costco's pharmacy to see if he's ever gotten back to them & he hasn't. I called his office again this morning & the gal said she'd leave him a message.

I don't mind the idea that he needs me to make an appt to refill my meds, but why didn't someone call me 8 days ago when I requested the refills from Costco to tell me that? It's always been like pulling teeth to get any response out of him & frankly, I'm just kind of done, especially now that I've got good enough insurance that I can see any Dr. & not just the in-network types.

But... how does one go about looking for a new Dr.? My insurance doesn't have a resource or website that I can peruse to search for a new Dr. & the phone book isn't really a good option anymore. I spoke with a nurse at my insurer's "nurse line" & she gave me 3 names of internal med docs & 1 of them was no longer around here & one of them was actually a pediatrician!

I don't want to switch to another dr. in the same practice, as I think the office staff are part of the problem there.

It should't be this hard to find a new dr.!

It is hard to find a good doctor. Have you tried using yelp, vitals, or ratemd, just to get a start on some in your geographic area and read some reviews?

I really do wonder why the office staff in medical practices is so often an issue. If the doctor is good, the office staff is usually a real pain to deal with.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

Commonly, in HMOs, you may be "assigned" to a given doctor, but you can go to any doctor in the group, the practice doesn't care. The assignment often has to do with billing. A group will designate one doctor who takes ALL insurances - that doctor's name will be on your card, but say there are six doctors in the office and a PA or two - if you call for an appt you can ask for or see any of them because they are all billed for under that one doctor's name as The Group.

I was with a group for about 10 years (just moved). During that time, any time I needed an appt I took whoever was free. About 4 years ago I saw one doctor I really liked and after that just requested my appts with her. In many groups (not all of course) they don't care who you see within the group.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Snoopp wrote:
@aubnwa01 wrote:
How does one even go about looking for a totally new Dr. these days? When I moved here 10 years ago, I was still part of a group insurance plan thru my former employer & I could access a list of Drs. that took my insurance thru their website. I had made an appointment with a female internist I found on the site & when I needed refills on some meds, she was out of the office, so I saw a male internist in the same practice to fill my prescriptions. I figured since I"d seen him already, I'd have him as my PCP. The female internist that I'd originally had the appt. with ended up leaving the practice anyway soon after that.

Over the years, he started having me see the female PA in the practice for my annual routine stuff & I was fine with that, as I preferred a female anyway.

I never really quite "gelled" with the male Dr. & should've left him long ago, but here I am still one of his patients, though it's probably been 5-6 years since I've seen him, as I haven't been ill. He just refills prescriptions when I contact Costco for refills & a lot of the time, he's been less than prompt in getting back ot Costco.

I turned 65 last year, so I'm now on Medicare with a Medicare Part F Supplemental plan.

I requested refills thru Costco 8 days ago of 2 meds that I've been on for over 20 years now & am nearly out of (the scripts were always filled as 90 day supplies, a carryover from from my former employer's plan) & Costco has resent the requests mulltiple times & he's never responded to them. It's been like crickets from his end!

I called his office earlier this week & said I'm nearly out of pills & the receptionist said she'd let him know. Nothing. I called 2 days later & again she said she'd get him a message. This time, I got a call from the office saying he needs to see me & made an appointment for April 6th. I told the scheduler that I need him to refill the Rx or I will run out of pills in the next few days. All this time, I've been calling Costco's pharmacy to see if he's ever gotten back to them & he hasn't. I called his office again this morning & the gal said she'd leave him a message.

I don't mind the idea that he needs me to make an appt to refill my meds, but why didn't someone call me 8 days ago when I requested the refills from Costco to tell me that? It's always been like pulling teeth to get any response out of him & frankly, I'm just kind of done, especially now that I've got good enough insurance that I can see any Dr. & not just the in-network types.

But... how does one go about looking for a new Dr.? My insurance doesn't have a resource or website that I can peruse to search for a new Dr. & the phone book isn't really a good option anymore. I spoke with a nurse at my insurer's "nurse line" & she gave me 3 names of internal med docs & 1 of them was no longer around here & one of them was actually a pediatrician!

I don't want to switch to another dr. in the same practice, as I think the office staff are part of the problem there.

It should't be this hard to find a new dr.!

It is hard to find a good doctor. Have you tried using yelp, vitals, or ratemd, just to get a start on some in your geographic area and read some reviews?

I really do wonder why the office staff in medical practices is so often an issue. If the doctor is good, the office staff is usually a real pain to deal with.

Trust me - 9 times out of 10 it's the doctor who is the problem, not the staff. They can only tell him what needs to be done. If he doesn't do it, not their fault. They tell him; he ignores it.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

aubnwa01 · ‎03-09-2010

@Moonchilde wrote:
@Snoopp wrote:
@aubnwa01 wrote:
How does one even go about looking for a totally new Dr. these days? When I moved here 10 years ago, I was still part of a group insurance plan thru my former employer & I could access a list of Drs. that took my insurance thru their website. I had made an appointment with a female internist I found on the site & when I needed refills on some meds, she was out of the office, so I saw a male internist in the same practice to fill my prescriptions. I figured since I"d seen him already, I'd have him as my PCP. The female internist that I'd originally had the appt. with ended up leaving the practice anyway soon after that.

Over the years, he started having me see the female PA in the practice for my annual routine stuff & I was fine with that, as I preferred a female anyway.

I never really quite "gelled" with the male Dr. & should've left him long ago, but here I am still one of his patients, though it's probably been 5-6 years since I've seen him, as I haven't been ill. He just refills prescriptions when I contact Costco for refills & a lot of the time, he's been less than prompt in getting back ot Costco.

I turned 65 last year, so I'm now on Medicare with a Medicare Part F Supplemental plan.

I requested refills thru Costco 8 days ago of 2 meds that I've been on for over 20 years now & am nearly out of (the scripts were always filled as 90 day supplies, a carryover from from my former employer's plan) & Costco has resent the requests mulltiple times & he's never responded to them. It's been like crickets from his end!

I called his office earlier this week & said I'm nearly out of pills & the receptionist said she'd let him know. Nothing. I called 2 days later & again she said she'd get him a message. This time, I got a call from the office saying he needs to see me & made an appointment for April 6th. I told the scheduler that I need him to refill the Rx or I will run out of pills in the next few days. All this time, I've been calling Costco's pharmacy to see if he's ever gotten back to them & he hasn't. I called his office again this morning & the gal said she'd leave him a message.

I don't mind the idea that he needs me to make an appt to refill my meds, but why didn't someone call me 8 days ago when I requested the refills from Costco to tell me that? It's always been like pulling teeth to get any response out of him & frankly, I'm just kind of done, especially now that I've got good enough insurance that I can see any Dr. & not just the in-network types.

But... how does one go about looking for a new Dr.? My insurance doesn't have a resource or website that I can peruse to search for a new Dr. & the phone book isn't really a good option anymore. I spoke with a nurse at my insurer's "nurse line" & she gave me 3 names of internal med docs & 1 of them was no longer around here & one of them was actually a pediatrician!

I don't want to switch to another dr. in the same practice, as I think the office staff are part of the problem there.

It should't be this hard to find a new dr.!

It is hard to find a good doctor. Have you tried using yelp, vitals, or ratemd, just to get a start on some in your geographic area and read some reviews?

I really do wonder why the office staff in medical practices is so often an issue. If the doctor is good, the office staff is usually a real pain to deal with.

Trust me - 9 times out of 10 it's the doctor who is the problem, not the staff. They can only tell him what needs to be done. If he doesn't do it, not their fault. They tell him; he ignores it.

I think my doc is part of the problem, too, though I've had a few incidents with the girl who is his nurse. She's been really snippy & rude with me a few times, which is so unneccessary. Since the last time I had an issue, the whole front office staff has changed, so i think others had some trouble too.

I decided to check with Costco's pharmacy at 6pm, in the off chance that he had maybe called over my refills & lo & behold, they'd finally just gotten them at 5:30pm! Costco's pharmacy closes at 7 pm, so they said they'd have them ready & they did. He renewed both meds for a 90 day supply, too. Neither he not the office had bothered to call me ot let me know he'd called over the refills. Very poor communications with patients. Sheesh!

ETA: Snoop, thanks for those places to check to look for new drs.

KarenQVC · ‎05-13-2010

One way to find a new dr. is to go to the website of the hospital you want to go to. They often have info about which drs. under which specialties have openings. They will often have a photo and basic info about their education, etc. Pick any who take Medicare. Then you can go see them--probably for free with Plan F. Same with specialists.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

I have an HMO so I can't see a specialist witrhout a referral and they take weeks and weeks to do the referrals , if they do them at all. I need to see the eye doctor and had to make the appointment for 6 weeks out to be certain they would get the referral done. They are in a huge group of over 100 doctors and they want you to ONLY use their group doctors, they are especially slow to give referrals to none group doctors.

KarenQVC · ‎05-13-2010

There is no referral for Plan F patients. If a dr. takes Medicare, you can go to him directly.

aubnwa01 · ‎03-09-2010

@KarenQVC wrote:
There is no referral for Plan F patients. If a dr. takes Medicare, you can go to him directly.

Yes, I can self refer to any dr. or specialist, the hardest part (for me) is finding one! The nurse at my insurer's nurse help line said something about checking Medicare.gov, but haven't checked that yet.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@aubnwa01 wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
@Snoopp wrote:
@aubnwa01 wrote:
How does one even go about looking for a totally new Dr. these days? When I moved here 10 years ago, I was still part of a group insurance plan thru my former employer & I could access a list of Drs. that took my insurance thru their website. I had made an appointment with a female internist I found on the site & when I needed refills on some meds, she was out of the office, so I saw a male internist in the same practice to fill my prescriptions. I figured since I"d seen him already, I'd have him as my PCP. The female internist that I'd originally had the appt. with ended up leaving the practice anyway soon after that.

Over the years, he started having me see the female PA in the practice for my annual routine stuff & I was fine with that, as I preferred a female anyway.

I never really quite "gelled" with the male Dr. & should've left him long ago, but here I am still one of his patients, though it's probably been 5-6 years since I've seen him, as I haven't been ill. He just refills prescriptions when I contact Costco for refills & a lot of the time, he's been less than prompt in getting back ot Costco.

I turned 65 last year, so I'm now on Medicare with a Medicare Part F Supplemental plan.

I requested refills thru Costco 8 days ago of 2 meds that I've been on for over 20 years now & am nearly out of (the scripts were always filled as 90 day supplies, a carryover from from my former employer's plan) & Costco has resent the requests mulltiple times & he's never responded to them. It's been like crickets from his end!

I called his office earlier this week & said I'm nearly out of pills & the receptionist said she'd let him know. Nothing. I called 2 days later & again she said she'd get him a message. This time, I got a call from the office saying he needs to see me & made an appointment for April 6th. I told the scheduler that I need him to refill the Rx or I will run out of pills in the next few days. All this time, I've been calling Costco's pharmacy to see if he's ever gotten back to them & he hasn't. I called his office again this morning & the gal said she'd leave him a message.

I don't mind the idea that he needs me to make an appt to refill my meds, but why didn't someone call me 8 days ago when I requested the refills from Costco to tell me that? It's always been like pulling teeth to get any response out of him & frankly, I'm just kind of done, especially now that I've got good enough insurance that I can see any Dr. & not just the in-network types.

But... how does one go about looking for a new Dr.? My insurance doesn't have a resource or website that I can peruse to search for a new Dr. & the phone book isn't really a good option anymore. I spoke with a nurse at my insurer's "nurse line" & she gave me 3 names of internal med docs & 1 of them was no longer around here & one of them was actually a pediatrician!

I don't want to switch to another dr. in the same practice, as I think the office staff are part of the problem there.

It should't be this hard to find a new dr.!

It is hard to find a good doctor. Have you tried using yelp, vitals, or ratemd, just to get a start on some in your geographic area and read some reviews?

I really do wonder why the office staff in medical practices is so often an issue. If the doctor is good, the office staff is usually a real pain to deal with.

Trust me - 9 times out of 10 it's the doctor who is the problem, not the staff. They can only tell him what needs to be done. If he doesn't do it, not their fault. They tell him; he ignores it.

I think my doc is part of the problem, too, though I've had a few incidents with the girl who is his nurse. She's been really snippy & rude with me a few times, which is so unneccessary. Since the last time I had an issue, the whole front office staff has changed, so i think others had some trouble too.

I decided to check with Costco's pharmacy at 6pm, in the off chance that he had maybe called over my refills & lo & behold, they'd finally just gotten them at 5:30pm! Costco's pharmacy closes at 7 pm, so they said they'd have them ready & they did. He renewed both meds for a 90 day supply, too. Neither he not the office had bothered to call me ot let me know he'd called over the refills. Very poor communications with patients. Sheesh!

ETA: Snoop, thanks for those places to check to look for new drs.