Tips for Choosing Internal Medicine Physicians

Internal medicine physicians play an important role in the healthcare system, often acting as a primary care physician for individuals or families. Internists, as they are called, diagnose and treat conditions that strike adults and also focus on disease prevention and medical screening. Internal medicine physicians often go on to sub-specialize in fields ranging from cardiology to immunology. As internists, they handle the daily routines of medical conditions and illness and often establish a relationship with a patient or family that spans for many years.

Make a List of Internal Medicine Physicians

A good first step in your search for internal medicine physicians is to create a list of potential candidates. There are a number of ways to come up with names of internal medicine physicians:

• Consult family and friends. Someone who has been treated by a doctor previously can offer an educated recommendation or a warning. Choosing someone you know well simply makes the recommendation that much more reliable. Just remember that even though a close friend or relatives likes a physician, that doesn't mean your search should end there.
• Check your state medical board. One of the duties of medical boards throughout the country is to keep lists of doctors by specialty throughout their state. The medical board will only forward the names of physicians who are certified.
• Check with your employer. If you work for an employer who also provides insurance, someone with the company will have a list of physicians in different fields who accept the company's insurance plan. Often, this is the human resources department.

Interview the Prospective Internal Medicine Physicians

Keep the list of physicians to interview to three or four at the most. The interview is very important because it collects important information about the physician and gives you a chance to get a "feel" for the doctor. Consider these, among other questions:

• What are your hours and how do you handle emergency appointments? Do you refer patients to other doctors, try to get them in within 24 hours of their call or reschedule for another day if the practice is booked up.
• What about after-hours calls? Are they handled by a nurse or a doctor on duty, and how does that change on a daily or weekly basis?
• How are blood tests, X-rays and other tests handled? Do they take place in the office or elsewhere? If elsewhere, what is that location, and what is the normal time to takes to get test results.
• What is the average wait time for an appointment on a normal day?
• What hospital do you use if a patient has an emergency or must be admitted? Do you or other internal medicine physicians in the practice have credentials for a number of hospitals?

Check the Credentials of the Internal Medicine Physicians

• Basic information, including education and certification, is available from state medical board websites. One site that lists all state health board sites is www.ihealthpilot.org.
• Free checks on the current condition of certifications for physicians in any of 24 sub-specialty areas can be found on the American Board of Medical Specialties website at www.abms.org.
• Disciplinary actions are more difficult to research. Some are listed on state medical board sites. The site www.healthgrades.com is one of many that charges money for disciplinary information. Additionally, the site www.checkbook.org lists state websites that store information on disciplinary actions involving internal medicine physicians, among others. Some of the sites on this list offer free information. Many are medical board sites, others are pay sites.