Have an HMO? How do you pick your physician?

[geldrop]

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I have an HMO through my workplace although I had a choice between a PPO and HMO i went with the HMO because of the good price and the fact that I am healthy and have additional insurance anyways.

its interesting when i was goign through all the physicians this is Kaiser low grade version they are all educated outside the United States with names I would never be able to pronounce the first time.

The best doc I could find all I can judge them on without speaking to them is what university they went to. The best I could find was a University of Buffalo doc.

What are your experiences?

 

[The Chronic MD]

I think you should inquire about their undergraduate GPA, their MCAT score, any volunteer/extracurricular activities, and any leadership experiences they have had and then make your decision. 🙄

Dude, what difference does it make, especially if you are going in there for a physical or a cough? You don't have to go to the same one everytime, just pick one, pay your ten bucks, and hope they hook you up with some Vicodins...750 mL, Extra Strength.

 

[The Chronic MD]

I mean 750 mg...

Damn, 750 mL of liquid vicodin fo dat @$$?...talk about serious meltdown...

 

[Mike59]

Originally posted by The Chronic MD
I think you should inquire about their undergraduate GPA, their MCAT score, any volunteer/extracurricular activities, and any leadership experiences they have had

Word. But before getting to that stage, I usually take thick black sharpie marker and cross off any names that have "DO" at the end (whatever that is)😛

 

[ylan11]

Originally posted by Mike59
Word. But before getting to that stage, I usually take thick black sharpie marker and cross off any names that have "DO" at the end (whatever that is)😛

I like your sense of humor Mike59

 

[manna]

If any of your coworkers have the same HMO, ask them for recommendations.

I'm covered thru my employers' PPO, but this is what works for me. *shrug*

(living in the rural south, we have quite a few docs educated overseas as well - My new favorite family physician just recently moved here from Niger!) 🙂

 

[UCLAMAN]

My family has been with kaiser all my life. There are many foreign grads but there are also many local grads. When my mom's family practice physician moved to another kaiser she had the choice of selecting a new one. she actually checked to see where they graduated. among her 3 new choices 1 came from ucsd, another from loma linda, and the 3rd from albert einstein. my mom chose the ucsd med grad.

i don't think foreign grads are necessarily less skilled than us educated physicians. i know a lot of doctors who received their degrees from the philippines who are practicing here who are great. my faculty interviewers at pitt and gwu have commented on how many of the pilipino physicians now practicing at their hospitals are very skilled.

i think foreign grads lack the resources that we have here during their training. sophisticated technology and basic necessities(ie i use vicryl on my rats in the lab and in the philippines only the extremely rich patients get vicryl, blood is in short supply and sometimes operations are finished with the use of plasma expanders, MRI in the philippines? riiight, etc.). so they may not be as up to speed with the use of technology when they arrive but they quickly catch up and in most cases can do everything as skillfully(if not more) than us trained physicians.

the training they receive in the philippines is in english and many of the professors have done internships or some sort of training in US teaching hospitals from UCLA to New York Med. in fact, my aunt who is an ob/gyn in the philippines had a handful of americans(us citizens) in her med school class back in the early 80's.

i guess my point is that just because they aren't trained in the us doesn't mean they are cheesy physicians. with that said i don't think it matters who you pick and if after your first physical checkup with them you don't like them, then just switch.

also keep in mind that many us grads also have names that are difficult to pronounce.

just my 2 pennies