Best place to go for Healthcare / Primary Physician (Baltimore: insurance, home)

[zipp83]

I moved to Baltimore for work recently. I'm new to the country as well, and am navigating healthcare for the first time. I am insured via my employer and opted for a POS plan where I will need to find a Primary Care Physician (PCP). I would like advice on how to choose.

I live downtown, and work on the Hopkins Homewood Campus. Downtown there are several large medical centers (Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center) and then there are smaller clinics and practices both Downtown and close to Homewood. I have a few questions:

1. In Canada, seeing a doctor at a major hospital (as opposed to a clinic) greatly expedites your care. In hospital, all tests are done right away and lab results, x-rays, etc returned within hours. At a smaller clinic, your blood is mailed off and you wait several days for results, or get referred somewhere else for ultrasounds, x-rays, etc. So I'm wondering if this is similar in the US: is it better to choose a Primary Care Physician who is located out of a major hospital?

2. I would like to be able to choose a doctor (e.g. from online profiles and info) rather than randomly be assigned one. But when I call about appointments I am told one will be scheduled with whoever is available. Is it a common/reasonable thing to ask to make an appointment with a specific doctor? Or will this seem unreasonable? Will a recommendation from a work colleague help things along?

3. Since I'm on a POS plan (as opposed to PPO), I need to go to my PCP first in case of sickness. So what do I do if I have an acute problem after hours and can't get a hold of my doctor? Are there after-hours clinic that take POS insurance directly? (If it's relevant, I have CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage.)


Thanks for any advice!
-Zipp

[Michael21214]

Originally Posted by zipp83

3. Since I'm on a POS plan (as opposed to PPO), I need to go to my PCP first in case of sickness. So what do I do if I have an acute problem after hours and can't get a hold of my doctor? Are there after-hours clinic that take POS insurance directly? (If it's relevant, I have CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage.)


Thanks for any advice!
-Zipp

One possible idea is to find a doctor at a Patient First clinic who is also listed in the CareFirst list of providers. Patient First clinics are open late every day. They also have labs, x-ray, etc. Patient First accepts CareFirst, either a $20 or $30 co-pay.

[zipp83]

^ Thanks for the info. Do you mean to find a PCP at a Patient First clinic, or just that I should be able to go there if there is a doctor there that accepts CareFirst (but isn't my PCP). Guess I'm just confused by the whole POS system.

In terms of finding a PCP, there are no Patient First clinics close to my home or work, so it would be inconvenient.

[boomtownfunlover]

You probably won't find a primary care physician in a hospital. Patient First is an urgent care facility, your co-pay will be a little higher there and its not necessarily a place for a primary care physician. Look in the phone book.

[Michael21214]

Originally Posted by zipp83

^ Thanks for the info. Do you mean to find a PCP at a Patient First clinic, or just that I should be able to go there if there is a doctor there that accepts CareFirst (but isn't my PCP). Guess I'm just confused by the whole POS system.

In terms of finding a PCP, there are no Patient First clinics close to my home or work, so it would be inconvenient.

Patient First lists their doctors on the web site for each clinic, and you can potentially find one of those doctors also listed on CareFirst's list of doctors offering primary care, thereby fulfilling the insurance plan's requirement that you have a specific primary care physician, and giving you access to a physician and their imaging/lab/pharmacy services after hours. Patient First works for me because I need little medical care, and it's useless for me to have a doctor near home since I'm usually working some distance away during their office hours, and there's usually a PF near where I am. So I go to PF if I need something for a bad cold, allergy or something requiring prescription medicine.

[Michael21214]

Originally Posted by zipp83

2. I would like to be able to choose a doctor (e.g. from online profiles and info) rather than randomly be assigned one. But when I call about appointments I am told one will be scheduled with whoever is available. Is it a common/reasonable thing to ask to make an appointment with a specific doctor? Or will this seem unreasonable? Will a recommendation from a work colleague help things along?
-Zipp

It's correct that you won't find a primary care physician working out of hospital. Specialists will have offices there, but not general/family practice doctors. However there are often medical office complexes near the hospital that should have some PCPs.

Most PCPs are in group practices, and they generally want to balance out their workload, so what you found is normal. Even if you are assigned to one PCP, he/she may not always, or perhaps will never, be the one you see. I guess they just sign off for each other or something; I have no idea how that works. But you should keep trying to request a specific doctor - it will probably work somewhere, and a recommendation can't hurt.

I think Baltimore Magazine does an annual "best doctors" issue or something like that - you might try googling for that, and checking other publications for advertisements.