Chosing a Physician

[Gregory Matthews]

As we have recently moved from Colorado to California my wife has been faced with chosing a new provider of medical care for her.

She has decided that she would first chose a near-by hospital that she would like to go to if in need of hospitalization.  From that choice, she would chose a physician who could admit her to that hospital. 

NOTE:   There are several hospitals near to where we live.

To assist her in he choice of a hospital we went to:

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

 

This website gave us an extensive listing of hospitals.  Three were selected that are near to where we live.  The website then generated a comprehensive evaluation of those three hospitals that consisted of many pages.

She selected one hospital.  She went to that hospitals website and asked for a listing of physicians near where we live who admit patients to that hospital.  After setting further limits as to type of practice and were accepting new patients she was given a listint of 9 physicians from whom to select.

This may be helpfule if you are neding to select a physician and want to know something about a hospital.

 

 

 

 

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

many primary care physicians will not accept Medicare patients anymore, unless you can get a referral from another physician... (it can even be a referral from an out-of-state physician).  

[Gail]

Is it easy to find a family doctor where you are? In our town most doctors are not taking on new patients.

[Jeannieb43]

In addition to Gregory's list, I have added (for myself) searching online for the education, specialization training, etc., of any prospective family physician.  [I've recently moved to a different county, and have had to start all over again finding health care for myself.]

It is true that many family physicians are no longer accepting Medicare patients.   That only means we have to continue looking further.  [My daughter has been searching for a new internist (specialist) for her dad, my former husband.   She was met with the answer:   "This doctor only practices concierge medicine."   Which means he charges $2,500 cash for six months, during which time he's available at any hour day or night and an office visit can last as long as needed -- no more of this 8-minute limit.]  My daughter didn't want to commit to that plan.  So she's still looking.

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

The list that comes up is NOT a list of physicians.  It is a list of hospitals, as I gave you the URL it did not directly involve physicians.

IT is simply a government website hosted by Medicare.

My wife is not on Medicare.

After we decided on a hospital, we went to the hospital website for a list of physicians.  We then programed that website to only provide us with a list of physicians, according to our selected specialtiy, that were accepting new patients.

We were given a listing of nine (9) physicians of that specialty that were accepting new patients.  Three ( had their office within 2 m iles of where we  live.  Six (6) have their offices within nine (9) miles of where we live. 

Our selected hospital is 12 (12) miles from where we live.

NOTE:  My wife has yet to interview and select her physician from the list we were given. 

My point in posting was to suggest a resource for anyone interested that could be used to evaluate local hospitals.

 

 

[Green Cochoa]

I'd recommend the Physician Link from American College for Advancement in Medicine:

 

http://acam.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=1758

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

Green: Than you for your participation in this thread.

For those  reading this thread; Green's suggestion is an interesting one.  The ACAM is focused on clinical care by chelation therapy that is provided by licensed clinicians.  

Chelation is the therapy of choice in a number of conditions that may exist in human life.  However, it is not appropriate for every condition.  NOTE:  I am not suggesting that the ACAM applies this therapy in every condition.

It appears to me that physicians associated with the ACAM may not be widely distributed across the U.S.    If you are someone who needs chelation therapy this type of therapy is  widely available by physicians who are not associated with the ACAM.  The  typical family physician may not feel qualified to deliver it?  But referral can be made to specialists who are qualified.