What makes a good Primary Care Physician?

A Primary Care Physician (PCP) should help you stay healthy, prevent disease and be your first point of contact for all medical or health problems. Your PCP should help you avoid all the chronic issues many Americans suffer from (i.e. high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, etc…).  An ideal PCP is someone you have a trusted relationship with, partners with you to improve and maintain your health, has time to talk with you about important decisions and is available when you need her or him.  Your PCP should be able to handle most (90-95%) of all your medical needs, including urgent or sick care needs.  When faced with that 5-10% that your PCP cannot handle it is vital that your PCP should know who to call or refer you to. 

There are a few specific traits to look for in a good PCP: advocacy, affability, availability, and ability.

Advocacy

A physician advocate is someone who goes to bat for you. They push to get you in with specialists when needed.  The best physician advocates are those who are willing to call you ASAP when results come back, especially if there is a worrisome finding. 

Affability

An affable doctor is someone who talks with you, not to you. This is someone who remembers the importance of the human side of medicine and probably went into medicine because of how much they love the intimate nature of patient care. A doctor can be an expert, but if they can’t help you understand why they are making a certain decision or involve you in that decision then they probably won’t be a good fit for you. 

Availability

How much access do you have to your doctor? How much access do you want? Do you want same day appointments for urgent care? Do you always want to see your doctor or is it ok if you see one of their partners? House calls? You get the idea. It is important to know what you want and to ask when you first meet with a doctor. 

Ability

A lot of what doctors learn in medical school is irrelevant by the time they are practicing. It is crucial that physicians continue to keep up with the latest literature. Get a sense of how curious your doctor is and whether they have time or a passion for learning new things. 

A PCP with all of these traits is extremely hard to find, however it is possible.  The most important aspect of finding a good doctor is to make a list of what you want and ranking what is most important.  To make the process easier here is a list of seven quick questions that you can use to speak with potential PCPs:

1.    How do you think about balancing prevention and treatment of disease? How much time do you spend with patients on the former versus the latter?

2.    How long is the average visit with a patient?

3.    How much time, on average, do you spend with each patient every year?

4.    Which lab tests and biomarkers do you consider essential for preventing disease?

5.    What areas of medicine interest you the most?

6.    How much time on average do you spend per month staying informed of the latest research in medicine?

7.    Are there any other things you would like prospective patients to know about you or your practice?

When considering who to select for your PCP I recommend considering these question in some way. Unfortunately, most doctors won’t have the time to answer all of these and be able to do their job in one visit. This lack of time for patients is why we started Summit Direct Primary Care.