Hospitals
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Look for the best doctor
How can you find the best doctor covered by your insurance plan? Here's a checklist that can help:
- Ask your primary-care doctor to recommend a surgeon, if necessary from the list of doctors approved by your insurance company. For complicated or unusual problems, ask your doctor for the name of an expert.
- If you don't have a solid recommendation, it's wise to learn all you can about the prospective surgeons. Start by checking out our list of national doctor resources and our doctor resources for your state. You can learn whether the surgeon is board-certified in a relevant specialty, such as the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. You can also find out where the physician underwent residency training. Doctors trained at or working in university medical centers may have more experience with a wider variety of cases than those at smaller hospitals. And you can learn whether any disciplinary action has been taken against a doctor. Another good resource is Patientsrighttoknow.org, which offers an interactive map that you can click on to be taken to whatever physician background reporting is available in your state.
- Talk with the prospective surgeon about his or her surgical results to help you find the best doctor. How many operations of the type you need has he or she performed? This is especially important if you need less common types of surgery, such as neurosurgery. Studies suggest that for some types of operations, experience leads to higher success and lower complication rates. You should also ask whether the doctor has any financial interests in the procedures or devices that are going to be used. This can help you understand if there's a potential conflict of interest. Also ask if the surgeon can provide references from patients willing to speak with you.
