Selecting your parents’ doctor is no easy feat. You want to find a doctor that you can literally trust with their lives. There can be a lot of pressure to find the best fit for your parents. It is also important that your parents like their doctor too so that they are more likely to attend their appointments and be compliant with things like medications. We know that our parents don’t always listen to us so it helps to have a doctor they will listen to. Here are the top 5 things you should consider when picking your parent’s doctors.
- What Insurance Do They Accept? The first thing to look for is if your parents’ insurance is accepted by this doctor. If you are looking to establish a long-term relationship with a provider, it helps to not have to pay out-of-pocket for every single visit. Let the insurance company handle all of the costs if your parents already have health insurance. Their health insurance company can give you a directory of medical doctors who are in-network. You have the option of logging on to the health insurance website and looking for a provider using the filters they might have available (such as accepting new patients, within x number of miles from this zip code, etc). From there, you can figure out a list of doctors to start with. Then you can look at the rest of this list to help you narrow down. Conversely, if you already have a doctor that you really like but they are not within the insurance network, it may be worth switching insurances to receive care from them. If your parents don’t have insurance right now, you may be able to find a community health clinic that will accept cash payments on a sliding scale.
- How Does the Provider Treat Their Patients? Doctors are very busy and their jobs can be very demanding. However, that doesn’t mean that you should settle for subpar care. There is no reason that your parents’ doctor should regularly have a 3-hour wait and when your parents finally get to see them, they only talk to your parents for 5 minutes. When you or your parents are talking (for a reasonable amount of time) does the doctor already cut you off? This is a doctor who is in a hurry and doesn’t really have time to listen to you all.
- How Soon Can You Get Appointments? Before committing to a doctor’s office, it helps to know how soon you can usually get an appointment. If all their appointments today are going to be booked 8 months out, it might not be worth doing to a doctor’s office like that unless you’re willing to call every single week and ask if they have any cancellations. When you call the doctor’s office to ask this question, make sure they understand that you’re asking about follow-up appointments. A lot of doctor’s offices have to block out a larger chunk of time for your very first appointment because they have to spend some extra time getting to know you and making sure they have all the records they need to continue to take care of your parents. Also, don’t forget to ask your parents’ desired doctor’s office if they block off appointment times for sick visits. When your parents are not feeling well, it’s great to be able to call the doctor’s office to see if they could be seen for their issue today or tomorrow. It saves you the trouble of having your parents go to an urgent care or making a trip to the emergency room for what could be a minor issue.
- What Is Their First line Of Action? Polypharmacy is a very common thing in the elderly population. It is the use of multiple medications for treating medical conditions. Polypharmacy is not necessarily a bad thing because some people truly need all the medications that they are taking to stay in good health. That being said, polypharmacy is often disliked because taking medication can feel like an endless chore. So before the doctor considers medication, is this doctor the type of doctor who will take the time to educate your parents on what’s going on with their bodies? If your parents’ cholesterol is borderline high, is the first line of treatment to write a prescription for medication with minimal explanation or do they ask them about dietary and exercise habits first? Does this doctor highlight part of your parents’ labs and offer any kind of explanation or congratulations or quickly tell you that everything looks good and to come back in 3-6 months?
- Read Reviews. Many providers offices are listed on multiple platforms where patients can leave reviews and write about their positive or negative experiences regarding all aspects of their doctor’s visit. Finding this information can be as simple as typing the doctor’s name into an internet search and looking at the websites where all the star ratings pop up. Keep in mind that if the doctor has a very common name, it helps to specify the location so that you are not reading reviews for the wrong doctor with the same name. There is something to keep in mind when reading reviews. A lot of people who are happy will not take the time to leave a review. Naturally, they will have negative reviews. Read all the good reviews but also don’t forget to single out the bad reviews and review them carefully. Some people leave one-star reviews out of anger but when you read what happened, it doesn’t seem all that bad.
This is not an exhaustive list of all the things that could be important to you and your family but this is a good place to start. Remember, just because you pick a doctor doesn’t mean you have to stay with that specific doctor forever. If you feel like you’re not being heard and your parents’ needs are not being met, it’s time to start looking for a new doctor.
