Once again I find myself in the position of having to find a new primary health care provider; an unquestionably vital member of my personal health team. I must admit this is a chore most dreaded.

Having worked in management and human resources I’ve interviewed hundreds of potential employees, as a parent I’ve interviewed child care workers, and as a busy, chronically ill adult I’ve interviewed everyone from massage therapists to yard care workers to see who would be the best fit for me – someone who I get along with, offers the services I need and has a price I can afford. Chances are many of you reading this have also done your fair share of interviewing as well – whether it was an official interview or just a casual call to get the facts.

What many people don’t always think to do, however, is to interview potential health care workers. At best many will ask for a referral from someone they trust and then just call and make the appointment. Even a referral from a friend is not bullet proof; its possible personalities will not mesh, or that the referral is a brilliant doctor but has no experience with your particular health issues.

If no one has a referral to offer, we turn to Google or the Yellow Pages and blindly choose based on location or a star rating system. Which can be a great way to get started – but should not be the end of the journey.

Obviously when searching for health care providers we are limited by some very real barriers, for instance, the need to find a place that accepts our insurance and preferably someplace that isn’t too far to travel to. Once those basic needs are fulfilled however, the process should continue.

I suggest that you create a list of providers that meet your most basic needs, such as the insurance issue. Next, call each place and verify that they are accepting new patients and that they still accept the insurance you have – providers change which companies and state or federal insurances they will take fairly often.

Once you have verified those two facts explain to the scheduler that you are seeking a new doctor, what your basic needs are (for instance – explain that you have ongoing chronic pain from arthritis, migraine headaches and IBS – just the highlights, not your entire medical record) and that you would like to set up a brief appointment to meet the doctor and staff. Some places will charge for this and it’s not covered by insurance, however the charge is usually nominal and can be well worth it. Most places in my experience do not charge for a 5-10 minute interview, especially if they understand and believe that you are taking an active part in your overall health.

Once you have set up an appointment, make sure to create a list of questions that you have. You’re only going to have a few minutes and it is easy to get in the door, get out one or two questions and then totally forget what else you wanted to ask. I break my questions down into sections:

A-     What do I want to ask the doctor?

1. Do you believe in a holistic approach to medicine?
2. How do you prefer to treat chronic pain?
3. Are you familiar with my disorders?
4. Are you planning to stay in the area (this being why I am interviewing again, my last one left the practice and the country – part of Doctors without Borders, so I can hardly complain)
5. Etc…

B-      What do I want to ask the billing department?

1. Do you accept checks?
2. Will you please verify my co-pay with this insurance?
3. Has this office been accepting this insurance for long?
4. Are any services billed separately ?(some places send out lab work for instance and you will get a secondary bill from that lab)

C-      What do I want to ask anyone else (such as office manager)

1. What are the office hours?
2. How do I request copies of my medical records?
3. Do you have satellite offices if I am ill away from home?
4. Do you have a patient-prescription advocate who can help me with my medications?

I like to leave more room between sentences than I have in the above example so that I can take notes and write down answers as I go. I find a clip board makes life much easier and I’m not positive but it seems like folks just take you more seriously when you’re holding a clipboard and jotting down notes. (Ok, no likely not… … but a clipboard does make life easier).

Occasionally I feel comfortable with a place right away and it’s a simple decision to take my business there. More often however, I like to interview at least three places before making a choice.

For extra credit, once my decision is made, I like to send a thank you card to the places I did not choose to let them know I appreciated their time and brief explanation as to why I went elsewhere – such as Place X is 10 miles closer to my home. I feel that in a small way this might positively reinforce the idea that allowing patients a brief interview with the doctor and staff is a good idea.

This concept is the same for finding an LMT, chiropractor, dentist, acupuncturist or anyone else that you wish to make a part of your personal health care team.

On that note I am off to start my search and begin my interviews to find the best fit for me.