My current family doctor used to be good but I think he is burned out and doesn’t care anymore. He has misdiagnosed me twice recently, but I am conflicted trying to see someone else because he was the only one who was able to correctly diagnose me with something that was bothering me for awhile that other doctors couldn’t figure out. Where I live all the good primary care doctors are not accepting new patients (side note-is there any way to get into see one of these doctors?), so I could try to see a new unknown doctor but there is a risk he will be worse than my current one. If I see a new doctor but don’t like him can I still go back to my old one or will my new doctor find out I saw another one and not accept me back since he is currently not accepting patients anymore? There are 2 major hospitals here and all doctors are “associated” with one or the other in case that matters.
If you live in the US just go to an after hours urgent care. Knock yourself out.
She wants more than an urgent care visit though, she’s looking for a new doctor to see her through over time.
A lot to unpack here.
Is there a specific current condition or diagnosis that concerns you? If that’s the case you have the right to a second opinion or a specialist consultation. And a second opinion on the specialist consultation. This is normal and not something your doctor will “fire” you over. In fact if you go this route you want both (all) doctors to be in communication about the situation.
If this is something more general–you feel your doctor is no longer the best for you–then I think it may be hard to switch and then switch back, especially if it’s so difficult to find a good primary doctor accepting patients. So you want a switch to be semi-permanent if you make one.
You can try going to a well-recommended doctor (or two) and paying for an initial visit out of pocket. Any doctor will make time for a cash patient. Bring a list of your concerns and recent test results if any. It’s difficult to judge a doctor based on one visit but you can certainly compare the new doctor or doctors to your current one.
You can try talking to your current doctor in a non-confrontational way. It’s normal and understandable to be concerned about mis-diagnoses. “I was really impressed with how you handled X but Y and Z concerned me. What’s your general impression of what’s going on with me? [tailored to your circumstances]” Leave it wide open and see what comes up and how your doctor handles it.
However, if you think your doctor is losing it and has mis-diagnosed you twice (how serious were these?) you may want to look for a better doctor no matter what your current MD says. Are you ever going to feel comfortable again with this person?
Can you get on waiting lists for the doctors you’d like to switch to and bide your time until one has an opening?
In my insurance (Kaiser FWIW) my primary can be someone from internal medicine, family practice, “social medicine,” even a DO. Can you broaden your pool of potential primary doctors even within what your insurance will cover, and find a better doctor who is accepting patients that way?
Hope this helps.
Does your insurance require you to choose a primary through the insurance company? My previous insurance company required me to choose one and notify the insurance company of who that would be and if I wanted to change, I had to notify the insurance company of the change. In that case, the doctor would have found out that I had changed doctors.
My current insurance has no such requirement- I can see any doctor who participates ( or even one who doesn’t, if I want to use my out of network benefits). My current doctor would only find out I switched if I asked that office to send my records to the new doctor or otherwise notified them. I could start seeing another doctor without the current one even knowing I did, which would eliminate any issues in trying to switch back.
OK, got it. when I needed specialists I asked family and friends in the medical field for recommendations. The idea is that people in the business know who to ask. I was amazed how quickly I narrowed down the short list.
OP. Do you live in the U.S.?
Are you comfortable seeing a Physician Asst. or a Nurse Practitioner? Sometimes you can in the door of a clinic taking that route. If something’s pops up they can’t handle the Doc they work under will take over the case.
My old pre-Obama insurance allowed me to carry two PCPs/GPs/GSs. The reasoning was that it provided some sense of continuity and files were copied/forwarded between the two to assure that I didn’t abuse the system to double-dip on the pill side of things. Currently I am allowed just one but I worked around that by finding a group practice. My PCP is so to speak Outer Irkutsk Family Health with five doctor.s And while I mostly arrange things so I see Liz the Killer I can see the Doctor Guy or Irene or any of the other partners. This has worked very well for me as some are better at some issues than others and Liz sort of coordinates everything for my best benefit.
Good point, and it actually works in a similar way for me. I see my PCP for annual checkups and when I want to check in about bigger issues but I can see pretty much any Kaiser primary doctor I want. OP will have to check if this is possible for her.