How to find a Primary Care Provider in the USA

Primary Care Provider(PCP) or Primary Care Doctors are the first person with whom you talk for your health issues that are not of the emergency type and these are the people or providers with whom you partner to manage your health. Primary care providers generally have an M.D. or D.O. degree, and sometimes they may be a physician assistant, internists, pediatricians, geriatricians, or nurse practitioners as per the availability or your need and sometimes they may be called a general practitioner in your area.

The PCPs are the first point of contact for your medical needs, and they even help you with regular checkups and suggest you ways to keep your health in good shape. In this blog, we are going to discuss about the primary care providers in the USA and the ways to find the most suitable for you.

What does a primary care provider do?

Whether you want to keep yourself healthy or you’re facing any common illness, a PCP suggests various ways as well as provides you with recommendations, including preventive care.

A PCP does various tasks like:

First point of contact:  A primary care doctor is your first point of contact for your health issues that are not of an emergency type.

Treatment after diagnosis: After doing proper checkups, a PCP suggests you the treatments for your common illnesses like diabetes, flu, blood pressure, and cold.

To know you:  A PCP checks your medical history, including any allergies, past medical treatments, your personality, and your family medical history, to better understand you and provide you with the best medical suggestions.

Referrals to specialists:  In case you require any specialized treatment for your illness, your PCP may refer you to a specialist for an in-depth evaluation and treatment.

Chronic disease management: Whether you are suffering from Arthritis, Mental illness, or Diabetes which are of chronic in nature, a PCP plays an important role in keeping you healthy.

When should you visit your PCP?

Most people ask themselves like when they have to visit a PCP, whether they should wait for any incident to happen or they should visit them frequently, like every month. The best answer to this question depends on person to person but the ideal one is to visit your PCP once a year so that you will have a good understanding of your health. During this annual check-up, your primary care doctor may do a physical check-up, routine screening, or suggest that you undergo any specialized test as per your medical history.

If you are suffering from immediate health issues like common illnesses, such as ear infections, Rashes, colds, Sore throats, or the flu, then you may visit your PCP. Even when you are suffering from minor injuries, have any side effects from medication, or pain in your body, or have persistent symptoms, you should visit your primary care doctor.

How to find a primary care physician in the USA?

Finding the right primary care physician in the USA is one of the important tasks, as there is a lot of shortage of qualified PCPs in the United States, and the government is taking various steps to improve the availability of doctors, which includes more medical seats in the healthcare institutions. There are various ways to find the right doctor for yourself, like:

Check with your insurance provider

The first and easiest way to find a PCP is to get in touch with your insurance provider by calling them or checking on their website for the nearest doctors in your area and then you may check their reviews or consult any mutual person to verify. 

Checking with your known ones

Another easy way is to check with your trusted family members, coworkers, neighbours, relatives, or friends who might recommend you to a good PCP in your area.

Check with research providers

There are many research providers and databases available on the internet like the American Medical Association’s Doctor Finder, or others that help you find the nearest doctor in your area and sometimes they may have patient reviews or video blogs on their websites.

Check with the PCP offices

One of the last thing that you have to do before confirming is to verify the details of your insurance with the doctor that whether they are accepting it or not, and if they are taking new patients because of the shortage of PCP providers in the USA which we will discuss in our future blogs. You also have to check whether your doctor is board-certified in their field or not and how much experience they have in their respective fields. You can also visit the office of your PCP provider before confirmation so that you will be well aware of the environment including the staff members of the provider.

What to ask your new primary care doctor?

There are various questions that you might ask your primary care provider which will help you understand him or her like:

• Am I healthy, or do I have any chronic diseases?
• What lifestyle changes do I have to make to keep myself healthy?
• What test should I be having to determine my health?
• How often should I visit you to make sure that I am healthy?
• In case of an emergency, how should I connect with you outside the office hours?
• In case I am suffering from a serious illness, what will be the process for getting referred to the specialist?

Conclusion

Primary care providers are the first people with whom you get in touch for any illness, whether it is minor or major but not of an emergency type. Even in some emergency cases, people often call their PCPs to get suggestions, so it is important to find the right nearest primary care doctor for you. So, In this blog, we have discussed the various ways to find the PCB for you in the USA.