Finding Quality Healthcare After the Move

The moving boxes are unpacked. The new neighbors have dropped by and you’ve found your way to the community tennis courts and the neighborhood grocery store. The next exciting chapter has begun, but what happens when it’s time for your annual medical check-up, or someone gets sick in the middle of the night?

Finding a physician after moving to a new part of the country can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Following a few steps can simplify the task.

An informal survey of people who have moved in the past few years revealed some clever methods of going about the search. Most folks rely on an old-fashioned approach—word of mouth. They talk with neighbors, co-workers, and often with the real estate professional who helped them purchase their new home.

When Beth and Earl Passwater moved to North Carolina, they asked their new neighbors as well as their realtor to recommend medical doctors and dentists. “Fortunately for us, both our realtor and our neighbors recommended the same professionals!” Beth says.

Another method is to start at the local urgent care, or Doc-in-a-Box, as Richard Eisenman calls them. Shortly after moving from Connecticut, his wife felt dizzy, and “not having a doctor, we went to Express Care.” The on-call doctor diagnosed an ear infection but advised them that there might be another problem. Since they didn’t have a family doctor, the Eisenmans asked if he would agree to follow up. “I was impressed that he had spotted something the first time out,” Dick says. They remained with that physician until he moved away.

Finding an age-appropriate physician is one selection criteria for Larry and Georgia Clark. They’ve moved from the West Coast to the East Coast in the past few years, and went about looking for someone who would understand “normal aging issues,” and their lifestyles. Because Larry usually “joins a running club when we first get to a new town, he can rely on other members of the group for their recommendations. That way, he is sure to find someone familiar with health concerns of runners like himself,” Georgia says. Finding a physician who will take on new patients can also be a challenge, but Georgia was able to get her current doctor to accept her by having other patients request that he do so. It took a while, but she got in.

Living in a very small place can be a blessing or a curse when it comes to medical care. Andi Reynolds and Dennis Affholter moved from Tallahassee, which has more than 200,000 people, to Keota, IA where all 2,000 residents know each other. Fortunately, Keoto has a clinic affiliated with the nearest hospital. “Lots of Keotans go there,” Andi says. “Word of mouth referrals have been our choice, and it’s worked very well.” As she begins the move to Kentucky for a new job, Andi is asking her current physicians for suggestions.

Talking personally to the potential candidates may be an eye opener. When D.L. Anderson found herself in Brooklyn after growing up in a small Southern town, she quickly found she could not understand the accents or the actions of many local doctors. “The big thing for us was finding a doctor we could understand—Russians, Asians, Indians, etc., each with their own cultural bedside manner.”

Donna Girardot agrees. “Finding competent medical care and in particular, English-speaking physicians,” has been challenging as she’s moved around the world. That aside, she recommends asking acquaintances specific questions about the doctor’s listening ability, bedside manner, courteousness and responsiveness of staff, and how respectful the office is of your time. When Donna has developed a list of possible physicians, she Googles their education, certifications, legal judgments and specialties. “I try to find people with my same medical condition and talk with them before booking my first appointment,” she says.

Don’t be afraid to switch physicians if you’re dissatisfied. Now that you’ve been through the process, you’re well-equipped to make another selection.

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