5 Ways to Find a Doctor When They’re Scarce
What to do when half of all primary care doctors want to cut back or quit?
Reader Comments
primary doctors in Dallas, TX
Look in the Casa Linda area in Dallas, TX near Doctors Hospital. plenty of younger primary doctors ( out of residency 6- 8 years) who are eager, intelligent and looking for patients.
Website
The easiest thing to do is go to Healthgrades.com, you can get all the info u want from any doctor or Hospital in the US.
Washington DC physicians, Aetna
Nancy, my experience in seeking a DC physician mirrored yours. My Aetna PPO directory is hopelessly outdated -- *every single* primary physician at George Washington University hospital has refused new patients in recent years, although Aetna lists them anyway. And my area of Dupont Circle, because it's DC's gay-friendly neighborhood, means that many available doctors are -- as in your case -- HIV specialists rather than generalists. I finally found a doctor but stopped going after the average wait time (as noted on Yelp) was 70 minutes, which caused near riots in the waiting room. I found one doc w/a good reputation but there's a 90-day wait.
my good doc quit
went to selling real estate because he said he was only making 10 bucks an hour net. go figure; what a loss!
It's the insurance companies!
Ms. Schute comments in her search that there are plenty of doctors in her area and I am sure there are. However her first search criteria is appropriate which doctors are in her insurance plan. I'll bet she could have found somebody easily if she was paying for everything out of her pocket.
A question she should be asking is why aren't more of the primary care doctors in the area on her insurance plan. As a practicing primary care doctor, I can answer that question easily...low insurance payment rates and insurance company payment hassles. If you think we have problems with access now, wait until you are on Medicaid or Medicare.
The decline in number of primary care doctors is easily explained by lower payments and more insurance hassles. But the decline is only a symptom of the larger illness that is our current healthcare system. Serious SIGNIFICANT healthcare reform is needed. Call your congressman!
5 ways to find a doc
This is essentially useless.
