How to Find a Good Doctor

This article was originally published September 2018 and was last updated October 2021.

There is nothing worse than paying a ton of money every month for healthcare insurance PLUS paying your copay/deductible, only to see a rude, condescending, or inattentive doctor. Luckily, The Healthcare Hustlers have some insider tips on how to find the best ones.

Search Your Insurance Company’s List of In-Network Providers

To keep the prices low and the benefits high, start by pulling up the list of in-network doctors on your insurance provider’s website search.

• You can typically find the insurance provider’s website by googling the insurance company name listed on your health insurance card.

• Logging in will choose the right sub-network. If you accidentally chose the wrong sub-network, you might still end up mistakenly going out-of-network provider.

  • For example, Dr. A might be in network with BCBS Blue Choice(SM), but out of network with Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Essentials Access(SM).

  • If you cannot locate the correct sub-network, call the insurance company using the phone number on the back of the insurance card to confirm.

• Click “Find a Provider” and begin searching.

Check out our cheatsheet for finding in-network providers.

Narrow Down The List of In-Network Providers Based On Your PReferences

You will likely see a long list of options at first. Use the filters to narrow your list. We recommend the following:

• Zip code/radius: Geography matters. Start with a limited search within a reasonable distance from your home/work.

• Specialty: No point looking at list of ophthalmologists when you need to get your ankle checked. Not sure what specialty you need to see? Check out this helpful list.

• Gender: Only if it matters to you.

Check their credentials, reviews, and availability

If your list is still unbearably long, turn on the following filters:

Note: You’ll see below that we recommend manually checking for these either way, since insurance provider directories are not terribly accurate.

• Board Certified: Yes

• Accepts New Patients: Yes (unless your list is getting short at this point)

Now that you have a shorter list, pick a few and do the following:

1. Check their patient reviews (take them with a grain of salt). We recommend:

   1. Healthgrades

   2. Zocdoc

   3. RateMDs

   4. Yelp

   5. Google

   6. Vitals

2. Check their license. Nearly every state has an online license search which you can find by googling some variation of “State Name Doctor License Verification” and following the link. This is where you can see if there have been formal complaints, if they performed surgery on the wrong side of the body, etc. See below for links in some of the most populous states.

   1. New York State Doctor License Lookup

   2. Texas State Doctor License Lookup

   3. California State Doctor License Lookup

3. Call the office and ask the following:

   • Is Dr. X accepting new patients at {address listed on the insurance site}?

     • Note: Many doctors see patients at several locations, which you can usually find listed by clicking on “additional locations” under their name on the insurance list. Make sure the specific location you call confirms their “in-network status” at that address. If a doctor practices at a different location, that location may be out of network.

   • Is Dr. X  in-network with my insurance?

     • Make sure they confirm that they are in-network, not just that they “accept” insurance. Check out this link for more details!

   • How far out is Dr. X booking for x service?

4. Added Bonus: Check to see if they are ABMS board certified by using this link.

 

 

---