When you move to a new town, you need to find a local doctor. An out-of-town physician won’t be there when you need them.
When an individual or family moves to a new location,
there are a lot of things they need to do in order to settle in, including finding a local doctor. Moving can be both an adventure and a period of readjustment. The exciting parts include checking out the neighborhood and the surrounding region’s landscape. New restaurants cooking up local cuisine, different parks where the children can play, unique styles of architecture, museums to discover and much more are waiting to be explored. A whole different world awaits us when we move.
The logistical settling tasks include unpacking the boxes, enrolling the kids in a new school, tracking down a new hairdresser, dentist and physician. One of the more challenging tasks is to find a local doctor. Here are some things to think about:
- The old one won’t work: If you think you can just keep going for your annual physical once a year when you visit your old hometown for the holidays, think again. If a patient wakes up with a fever and sore throat, breaks their leg or develops a suspicious looking rash, they aren’t going to be able to travel back to obtain treatment. Going to the local emergency room lacks the personal touch and is frowned on by insurance companies. A doc in your new hometown will be able to provide prompt health care. Find one before you need them.
- Be ready to ship records: Before you leave your old physician’s office, sign consent paperwork to have your medical records faxed to the new practitioner as soon as you’ve found him or her. That way, with the doctor’s simple request, your medical records will be ready to ship via fax or snail mail.
- Get recommendations: Ask your new neighbors and co-workers for a referral for a good physician. Word-of-mouth referrals are excellent ways to gauge a provider of quality. Another way to gain referrals is via online doctor review websites. These sites will offer reviews from past patients about everything including the doctor’s bedside manner, promptness, expertise and skill level and even a bit about the quality of the office staff. Online reviews are the next best thing to word-of-mouth recommendations.
- Call your insurance company: A good way to obtain a listing of physicians in the area who will accept your family’s health care coverage is by asking the insurance company. The insurance company representatives will want to know your zip code and what type of specialist you’re looking for and in return they’ll send a list of practitioners in your region that you can check out.
- Go to their website: Many medical practices have websites talking about their specialties, the doctors that are on staff, their hours, location and insurance acceptance policies. This is a good way to get some names of physicians to check into.
Once a family has moved in, unpacked, found a local doctor, dentist, hairdresser, enrolled the kids in school and checked out the community flavor, they can feel like they’ve finally made it home.
