Chapter One
Choosing A Primary Care Doctor and Getting the Best Specialist Care
Dr. Justice arrived at the emergency room shortly after his patient did. The ER staff wasn't surprised, as Dr. Justice and his medical colleagues always liked to care for their own patients when possible. The patient had called Dr. Justice (who had returned his phone call promptly) to tell him that he had chest pain. Dr. Justice told him to call 911 and get to the ER by ambulance. He would call the ER, give them some orders, and would follow along shortly.
Dr. Justice spoke with his patient in a calm and unhurried manner and assured him that he would get the best possible medical care. He and his medical group would oversee each step of his care in consultation with the specialists in the hospital-the same specialists that he would use if it were for himself.
Dr. Justice then invited the patient's wife into the examining room with her husband and reassured her in the same quiet, confident manner as he had reassured her husband. He held her hand while sitting in the chair next to her, all the while listening to her concerns. He addressed each question in a respectful and easy style that immediately calmed the worried wife. Finally, when she had all her questions answered, he hugged her and left the room to see another patient. The nursing staff could see an immediate positive difference in the whole family after Dr. Justice had finished.
Who wouldn't want a doctor like this? Sound like a fantasy doctor from Central Casting? Well, it's not. There are many wonderful doctors in the practice of medicine who provide this same kind of caring and compassion. This is the kind of care we'd all like to have and deserve to have. It is possible to find a doctor or doctors like the one in our little scenario.
It will take some time and effort on your part, but it's possible.
Think about this:
* The number of physicians in the United States is 700,000.
* The number of accidental deaths caused by physicians per year is 120,000.
* The number of accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 per year. (Health and Human Services Dept.)
Then think about this:
* The number of gun owners in the United States is 80 million.
* The number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) is 1,500.
* The number of accidental deaths per gun owner per year is .0000188.
Statistically, doctors are approximately nine thousand times more dangerous than gun owners. FACT: Not everyone has a gun, but almost everyone has at least one doctor.
The above is a joke making its way around the Internet that might just contain a bit of truth. It's a humorous way of letting you know that finding the right doctor is extremely important to your health because, according to a 1998 Gallup Poll, 83 percent of Americans visited a doctor in the previous year. While most people saw a doctor for routine care of common problems, many others required a specialist's care for more serious and complex issues.
The biggest problem that many people have in medical care is finding the right doctor. In survey after survey, people have defined the "right" doctor as one who is compassionate, kind, listens to what they are saying, and includes them as partners in their treatment. Many of us are blessed with a doctor we can trust and who provides wonderful care for us and our families. Many others of us are not.
We won't kid you. Finding the right doctor for you can be hard work. It takes time and may require considerable effort. In some cases, you may get lucky and strike gold right away. It's good to keep in mind that anything good and worth having in life usually requires some work, and the feeling of accomplishment you get when the job is done and you find the right doctor makes it all worthwhile. After all, in this case, we're talking about your health and maybe your life.
Buying a Car and Finding a Doctor
How many of you have bought a car in the last several years? We bet most of you have. Did you do a fair amount of research before you bought your car? We bet you did, because a car is something you live with for years, and it's one of the biggest dollar outlays that a person makes other than the purchase of their home.
When you finished doing your research by talking to friends, looking at car ratings on the Internet, in Consumer Reports, or whatever other rating service you decided to use, did you then take your finalists out for a test drive? We bet you did that too, because by doing so, you noticed little things about the car that you couldn't have found out by simply reading or talking to someone else about it. It doesn't matter that someone else loves a particular car model; your car has to fit your personality and be comfortable for you.
Those who sell cars and trucks know that the average consumer also makes their final decision about the vehicle they choose based on a number of intangibles. Was the sales staff nice? Did one dealer promise better service after the sale than another? Was the dealer's showroom clean and appealing? Is the dealership convenient? Does the dealer have a reputation in town for honesty and caring service? Did the particular car and model have a reputation for reliability and good service?
Let's take that same analogy and apply it to choosing a doctor. How much time and effort did you take before choosing your present doctor or a doctor that you've seen in the past? Did you do your research by checking out your doctor through the state medical society, specialty board, or on the Internet? If not, why not? You may not make a big dollar investment in your doctor, thanks to insurance, but aren't you potentially investing your life (and possibly your family's lives) in your doctor's hands? We think you are, and that's why we think this chapter is so important.
Did you take the doctors you are considering out for a test drive by scheduling a brief meeting with them in their offices? You may find that despite all your research, the doctor's support staff or office left a lot to be desired. You may find that the office hours just weren't convenient and that your potential future doctor wasn't available after standard office hours or didn't have coverage in emergencies. Maybe, when you sat in the waiting room prior to your appointment, some of the other patients mentioned some concerns they had about the care they'd received. These are some of the things that you can find out only when visiting your potential doctor's office personally. Isn't it worth your time to do so? You do it when you're buying a car. Why not when choosing the person who will have an even greater impact on your life?
How do you find the best doctor for you? When do you need a second opinion? When should you consult a specialist for care? What kinds of questions should you ask when looking for a doctor? These questions, and more, are at the heart of this most important chapter.
Finding the Best Doctor and Getting the Kind of Care Your Doctor Gets
Getting the best care isn't really just a function of how much money you have. What you need is something more important . . . information. And the very best kind of information when it comes to health care is insider information. The good news here is that in the world of medicine insider information is legal . . . and that's what we want to share with you.
So who has this insider information? Doctors do. Doctors definitely have the inside track when it comes to finding the best doctors and getting the best care. Your friends who are doctors know who the best doctors are, how to get in to see them quickly and without waiting, and how to get referrals to the best specialists, if and when they need them. The key to staying healthy and out of the hospital is to be in the hands of the best primary care physician you can find. Most of us have no idea how to find one or how to evaluate one once we join their practice. Doctors, on the other hand, spend their lives in clinical settings. They know their way around the world of health care the way a professional golfer knows his way around a golf course.
Very simply, the way most people go about choosing a doctor is all wrong. And it is one of the costliest errors that you can make. There isn't anything more important to most of us than our health and the health of the people we love. When we are diagnosed with an illness or even when we're choosing a physician to take care of us, we want nothing less than the best, and the best care starts with your primary care physician.
Your Primary Care Physician: The Most Important Member of Your Health Care Team Your primary care physician is the most important person on your health care team. This doctor will be the coordinator of your overall medical care much like a head chef oversees the kitchen staff in fine restaurants or an executive producer manages and coordinates the Today show every day.
When the Today show airs, there is an executive producer who coordinates all the various story segments and program features and brings them together into a final product that flows seamlessly. He or she might be coordinating twenty or more features with as many different producers. This is a very difficult job because it means limiting certain stories and expanding others in the hope of appealing to the widest possible audience five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. We wouldn't want that job. It's just too stressful.
Your primary doctor provides much the same role for you. He or she should be supervising all aspects of your medical care and ensuring that all members of the team blend together to provide the best health care for you. It too is a very difficult and stressful job because other team members may not communicate with the primary care provider as they should, reports may get lost, and results may be slow in getting back to the doctor's office. And, if things should go wrong, the primary physician is often second-guessed, especially with the twenty-twenty hindsight that many people develop. A doctor who does this job well is to be respected and che...
