Chapter 5: How To Shop For The Best Primary Care Doctor

Caveat: If you can find one accepting new patients

Mar 31, 2025

My husband and I have moved seven times during our marriage. And every time, I had to find a new medical practice.

I've learned what worked, what not to do, and how to quickly recognize I've made the wrong choice. You’ve got to be willing to switch when necessary. I've had 12 primary care physicians (PCP) in those seven towns. I lost two who quit their practices — one from post-Covid burnout and the other because she grew weary of her bureaucratic overlords. I miss them both. They were excellent diagnosticians whose insights helped me.

I ran for my life from three PCPs. One kept gaslighting me, claiming my pain was in my head.

Another doctor misdiagnosed me three times in one appointment. She never physically examined me, blamed me for my pain, dismissed two other symptoms, and ordered the wrong medication. Her errors harmed me and delayed my healing.

I also ran from a doctor who repeatedly dismissed some serious symptoms and used our appointment time to show me cool videos of New Year's Eve fireworks from all over the world.

Patients are the ultimate consumers of healthcare. That means we get to hire and fire physicians who are supposed to be working for us, for our health and to solve our medical issues. There are four categories of primary care, who are intended to be our first line of defense:

1. internal medicine for adults,

2. family medicine for cradle-to-grave care,

3. geriatrics for seniors, and

4. pediatrics for children.

And if our health concerns exceed their expertise, we expect them to direct us to specialists.

Obstacles to Patient Choice

Three things limit our power to hire and fire our doctors. The first is our insurance networks who control which specific doctors we’re permitted to see. The second is lack of availability in many communities. Over 77 million Americans live in a primary care desert. The majority of those are in rural areas.

But the third and biggest issue is that there are too few primary care doctors to go around, even in health care oases. The shortage of primary care doctors isn’t new but it's gotten worse in the past few years, especially for pediatricians.

Primary care doctors get paid less but need to know more than specialists. Unlike neurosurgeons, for example, who can earn twice as much, PCPs are expected to understand and recognize every medical condition. Plus they can have less autonomy than high earning specialist surgeons. Thousands of doctors quit every year due to being treated as a cog in a machine run by bookkeepers who control the tests you can run, the medicines and treatments you can order, even which patients you can accept.

Demand is so high, even in access rich communities, many top rated primary care practices are closed to new patients. It took me over six months to find my current internist and I live within ten minutes of two major healthcare systems. While searching, I found several became concierge doctors charging $5 thousand and more. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements have been cut so now fewer practices are accepting those patients.

Six Doctor Shopping Steps

Now you know the issues, let’s go doctor shopping.

Start by deciding what is most important to you? For example, I want an internist who is in-network so it’s not exorbitantly expensive, went to an excellent medical school but did their residency somewhere else so they’ve been exposed to a variety of approaches. I want them to have some experience but prefer someone not close to retirement. Then I read lots of reviews to learn how their patients view their treatment. Frankly, I don’t read reviews about the phone staff or the wait time. I want the smartest most caring medical professional so I’m willing to put up with sitting in a waiting room for an hour if need be.

Build a List

1. Check Access: Will you be able to pay for their services with your insurance or healthcare plan?

Are they in-network for your insurance? This has to be checked twice; once on the insurance company’s website where you can download or print out a list of everyone in your area deemed part of the network and then confirm with the practice by phone.
Do they take Medicare or Medicaid? You can use the Medicare Care Compare Tool to find physicians that accept Medicare. Then, call to doublecheck. Identifying Medicaid providers can be more complicated. Every state has their own Medicaid program, with their own list and criteria. I suggest checking –– online or by phone –– with your Medicaid policy manager.

2. Gather Recommendations: Now that you have a list, ask around for suggestions.

Start with friends and family. Ask coworkers, bosses, your child’s teacher, your neighbors, anyone who has lived there for a while. Lots of people use their local community’s Facebook page. Specifically ask who’s your doctor and why do you like them?
If you have a local specialist but need to switch primary care doctors, ask the specialist, their staff and people in the waiting room.
See if any of the names you’ve gathered match those on your insurance list. Mark them up with the data you just gathered. “Brilliant but cold.” “Great listener but office is disorganized.” “No one calls you back.” “They dismissed my symptoms. So now I’m with X.”

Winnow the list down

3. Check Training: Do you only want doctors who went to top or ivy league medical schools? Or do you prefer those who studied abroad? Do you have a medical condition that requires someone fluent with your healthcare needs? Do you want an older more experienced doctor or a younger one using the latest techniques?

You can use the web to search any doctor by name and learn a great deal about them. Where they attended medical school, did their residency, perhaps a fellowship for further training. What year did they graduate?
Do they have a checkered past? Every state has a medical board and it’s their job to hear and investigate complaints about a licensed doctor and take action when warranted; cancel their state license, suspend them or just fine them. Medical boards tend to be conservative and rarely take action, and doctors can move to another state, which is frustrating to patient advocates like me. Go to your state’s medical board, click on the link, and then click on Physicians. You can also do a full US search with your doctor’s full name at Doc Info, a physician search engine that’s free for patients and run by the Federation of State Medical Board's Physician Data Center (PDC).

4. Culture Check: Personally, I prefer female internists. Even if my belief that women doctors are more empathetic isn’t true, I feel more comfortable talking about my life and concerns with women. In general, Black patients prefer Black physicians because medical racism kills. Studies show that when the patient and the doctor are similar racially and/or ethnically, patients are happier, feel they get better quality care and avoid biased care. The insurance listings will tell you if a physician is bilingual or female. To identify doctors of color on your list, you can view their photo or go to the National Medical Association’s Find a Culturally Sensitive Doctor search engine.

5. Check Online Reviews: Search online by doctor’s name and add the word “reviews.” There are many websites that collect patient’s opinions on PCPs: Healthgrades, Yelp, Google, Zocdoc, WebMD and Vitals. Choose the resource with the most reviews for the doctor you’re researching and read them all. Three star averages might mean the doctor is good but receptionist is rude.

Look for terms that matter to you. Are they a good listener or communicator? Are they empathetic or dismissive? Are they condescending or use only medical jargon? Did she advocate for a patient with their insurance company? Was he responsive with explaining test results? Is the practice organized and well managed? Do they answer their phones and return calls?

6. Call for an appointment: And now the BIG question: Are they accepting new patients? It took me six months to find an internist who met my criteria, was highly rated and hadn’t closed her practice. Too many had become concierge doctors, charging thousands of dollars to patient “members.”

When you call to confirm they take your insurance, also ask if they’ll see new patients. Many of the doctors on my short list were closed to new patients. Some offered appointments with other physicians in the same practice. They suggested I could switch later but that may be awkward. If your choices are thin, you might need to do it anyway.

Share What’s Worked For You

Do you have any tips not covered here? What approaches have worked for you? What’s most important to you in a primary care doctor for you or your loved ones?

Patient Advocate

Lisa McGiffert

shared a fascinating tip. “I looked for a doc who practiced with a team - Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant - so I would have more opportunities to see a practitioner.” Great idea. It triples both the opportunities for a change in perspective and for appointments for urgent care.

Next up: Chapter 6: Hunting The Elusive Top Specialist and Surgeon.