ask: How do I find a great new doctor where we're moving?

Hi Anne!

It is indeed hard to find new doctors and I think you really will have to canvas those co-workers or neighbors. If you don't know anyone at all, they'll be your best bet. It's a tough situation to be in, I know.

If you don't need a doctor right away, give it a few months if possible, so you can get to know the people around you. Getting a recommendation from a stranger is iffy. You may have to wait it out a bit.

Pick doctors who are involved in the community - who teach, or are active in health groups or classes. Their resumes or bios should let you know. And I would pick doctors who have been in town for a while so they have some local, verifiable history there.

Here is a website that lists doctors (of many specialties) in Dallas and they have patient reviews underneath them:

www.dallasdoctors.com

You can also do background checks on any physician here:

www.Healthgrades.com

www.physicianreport.com

Good luck!

I have some suggestions, as we moved last January to a new place, and needed to find a new doctor immediately (pediatrician) and other doctors are still in the works (eye doctor and dentist, for instance).

1. Ask current doctors for recommendations
I made a list of all of our doctors we currently had, and asked them if they had any recommendations. Surprisingly, one of our doctors had a sister who lived in our new area with kids, and recommended a pediatrician. The other doctors gave us a website for their profession, with a search function on "find a doctor" via zipcode (and verifies their credentials, experience, etc). I printed this list and proceeded to my next step below.

2. Join online communities for your new community
I joined a few "special interest" communities, in our new city before we moved, and after a few days of observing (and searching their archives for similar questions), I asked for doctor recommendations. A few doctors' names were repeated, and I double-checked my previous list to make sure they had the credentials my previous doctor had recommended.

3. Review new communities' free publications online
Our new city has several popular "free magazines" that provide community events, resources, doctor advertisements, etc. Now, after living in our new area for over 9 months, I've realized some of these "advertised doctors" are the more popular and well-liked/well- respected doctors in the area. Please note: the "advertisements" are for a mom's magazine; these doctor offices are not shelling out thousands of dollars for advertising, as that would raise some red flags! Also, the doctors who are writing articles for the free publication magazines are worthy of being put on your list, as they are interested in education (depending on the magazine; use your best judgment that it is not just a self-promotion scheme).

4. Interview doctors, get to know neighbors, and interview more doctors
After all of this: you've paired down your list to perhaps gender (I preferred my son to haver a male pediatrician), to location, type of office, hospital-affiliation (another good question for the online community), then when you have moved to Dallas, you still need to go interview the doctor(s). One of our doctors came highly recommended, and we could not figure out why after the interview. So, back to my list I went, and while I was meeting new people, I would ask if they have any doctors they recommend.

This process is time-consuming, but important. You can choose a few doctors that you need first on your list, so it is not such a daunting task. Don't be afraid to switch doctors if one is not a good fit for you, but was "popular" in the online community. You can think of this as a decision for the next year, until you really know your community. It is not a decision you need to stick with!

oh...and another great place is to look at the doctors whom their peers voted for, called "Super Doctors".
http://www.superdoctors.com/

My allergist is a Super Doctor and I absolutely love him and would highly recommend him.