What do you do when you have to find a doctor who takes new Medicare patients? If you don't have a recommendation from someone you trust (the first option), and you don't have access to someone who can make a good referral, you'll have to dig in and do some research. There are a few tools that can make it a bit easier, but nothing will replace good old fashioned footwork.

You can start with the Medicare website . Scroll down to "Find A Doctor." The Medicare website lists physicians who have agreed to accept Medicare assignment from their patients. This means they have agreed to accept the amount Medicare says they should charge for an office visit, and they have agreed to bill Medicare for the amount they are owed. They will only ask the patient to pay the required co-pay amount.

Medicare is a good place to start, but you should be aware that the site is usually a bit out of date. Many of the physicians listed are no longer accepting new Medicare patients, or they aren't accepting assignment. This latter means the patient will have to pay for the office visit and send in a claim to Medicare for reimbursement.

You'll have to telephone the office to see if the website information is still correct. And, of course, Medicare gives you their addresses, but not their telephone numbers. Helpful.
You can also use the American Medical Association website. This site gives more complete information about a doctor (including telephone number), but it doesn't tell you whether the doctor takes Medicare. So, that's another telephone call unless you compare the results side-by-side with the Medicare site. And even then, you can't be sure. So you have to call.

While neither one is perfect, using these two websites can give you a starting-point list of possible doctors to follow up with.