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As many of you know, I live and
work in Dallas, TX. For lo these many years I have relied on a
group of senior medical centers where my clients could get
quality medical care from geriatric doctors - specialists in
aging who would accept Medicare without complaint and who were
located in or near the neighborhoods where my clients actually
live. This meant that older folks could drive themselves to
their regularly scheduled appointments on streets they knew.
Now, because Medicare payments to
doctors are being reduced again, these neighborhood centers are
being closed down and consolidated into one facility near a
major downtown hospital where the traffic is congested, the
homeless roam, and traffic is a nightmare of confusing one-way
streets.
Chances are, many of
my clients will need to find a new doctor. This is a tragedy for
them, and for their families. For that matter, it's a minor
tragedy for me, too. I attend a lot of doctor appointments and I
don't like driving in that part of town, either. But I can cope
with it. Many seniors can't.
So what do you do when you have
to find a new 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 an eldercare specialist
like me...the best option...(smile) 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the site is usually pretty out of date.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.
Using these two websites can give
you a starting-point list of possible doctors to follow up with.
Next issue:
What to ask when
you're looking for a doctor.
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