We’ve recently moved, and my wife is interested in finding a doctor in the area, particularly since she might become pregnant in the near future. What is the best way to find a good one, given that, in this new locale, personal referral isn’t much of an option? Is there anything akin to the Better Business Bureau for doctors? Any on-line resource where one can find out if there have been complaints against a particular physician or hospital? Will doctors give references to patients they’ve had?
Your best resource is probably your new co-workers, but lately, a lot of doctors have websites. Do a search for your town. Some of them list their philosophy toward certain complaints, and you can get a good feel for what they’re like.
Well, we don’t have new co-workers, just old ones, but none of them live that close to our new home. As for a doctors’ personal web-site, that strikes me as a less-than-objective souce of information, but we’ll check some out to see what they’re like. My wife has spent a while checking the web already, but while the sites she’s found list doctors, they don’t provide objective third-party opinions about any of them, which is what we’d like.
When I moved here, I asked my old doctor if he could help me find a good doctor here. His recommendation was to go to a few pharmacies and ask the pharmacists. He said they deal with doctors every day and know who is good and who is bad.
What is the best way to find a good one, given that, in this new locale, personal referral isn’t much of an option? Is there anything akin to the Better Business Bureau for doctors? Any on-line resource where one can find out if there have been complaints against a particular physician or hospital? Will doctors give references to patients they’ve had?