Interviewing Prospective Doctors

• Is his or her office within a reasonable distance from your home?
• What hours is the practice open? Any Saturdays or evenings?
• How long in advance do you need to schedule a physical? (This is tricky -- if you have to schedule too far in advance, you are likely to become frustrated. On the other hand, if there is no waiting, you might want to ask why (perhaps the practice has just added an additional doctor, for instance.)
• Does the practice take same-day appointment for sick patients? Do they accept drop-ins for sick patients? If so, how long is the average wait?
• Does she or he accept phone calls during office hours? (This often saves you a trip to the office.)
• How many doctors share after-hours on-call duties? If you have an after-hours need, will you be able to talk to one of the doctors in the same practice? A doctor from another practice? A nurse? An answering machine?
• How do they handle "after-hours," non-emergency needs? Are they associated with an after-hours clinic, or do they meet you in the emergency room? Or do they tell you to take two aspirins and call in the morning?
• How do they handle billing? Do they require payment at the time of the visit, or do they bill your insurance company first and then bill you after receiving payment from your insurance? (This is not important if you have an HMO.)

Finally, and in many ways most importantly, notice the quality of your interaction with the physician. This can be more significant than the specific information imparted. You need to feel comfortable with this person, confident that she or he is genuinely interested, and encouraged that communication will flow smoothly in both directions.

After looking at this exhaustive list of questions, it is obvious that no doctor will score 100%, so prioritize your concerns and select the best candidate.

If you decide that you have found the physician who is the best fit for your family, but you look him or her up in your insurance company's handbook only to find that he or she is not listed, don't give up! Call the doctor's office and ask to speak to the person who is in charge of insurance billing. Ask him or her if the doctor you want is now accepting patients with your insurance. If the doctor is not, ask if there is any creative solution to your problem. If they can not help you in any way, ask for a list of insurances that they do accept. If you are paying directly for your insurance, you may want to consider changing companies. If you are getting insurance through your employer, take the list to your employer and find out if they currently offer any of these options. If you are looking for a pediatrician for a new baby, in many cases you will have 30 days from the baby's date of birth to make changes in your benefits. During that time you might be able to change to an insurance that the doctor you want to see accepts. If you are not looking for a pediatrician for a newborn, you may have to wait until open enrollment at your place of employment to make a switch.

Now that we have options, selecting a physician for our children or ourselves is not an easy undertaking, but the reward for our efforts can be a more meaningful physician-patient relationship has ever been possible before.

Dr. Alan Greene, author of Raising Baby Green and Feeding Baby Greene, is the founder of Dr.Greene.com and the WhiteOut Movement. He is a frequent guest on such shows as Good Morning America, The Today Show, and the Dr. Oz Show. He is on the Board of Directors of Healthy Child Healthy World and The Lunchbox Project. Dr. Greene is a practicing pediatrician at Stanford University's Packard Children's Hospital.

Copyright © Greene Ink, Inc., all rights reserved. Permission to republish granted to Pregnancy.org. Reviewed by Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin M.D. & Rebecca Hicks M.D. April 7, 2009.