Everyone who cares about their health must have a primary care physician who understands other-selves well. It is the most convenient way to handle the health conditions that arise at different stages and periods of life. We recognize that there are times when you may face an emergency and the situation requires you to go to a doctor immediately. Except for those emergencies, your family doctor must be updated about your chronic conditions, surgeries, cholesterol or sugar levels, and everything. That’s why you must pay attention in choosing the best doctor for yourself or loved ones. Let’s see this broader.

Why do you need a strategy for choosing the best doctor?

You might be looking around to find a doctor for yourself or one of your loved ones. In both of these situations, you must pay attention well to carry on the following steps. While the overall strategy to find the right doctor includes research and planning, the procedure is paramount because the physician you choose will involve in managing healthcare needs that arise in a part of your life. The doctor you choose will be the doctor you visit most for every medical need, you will get medical advice on your daily routine, and diet planning.

The primary care physician you choose after researching and planning will be the one who recommends you the specialist or the surgeon you need to channel for any advanced medicare or surgery. Also, he or she will decide your wellness routine, and screenings, and will treat non-emergency illnesses. Simple, your primary care physician will be like your medical school and sometimes home. So, choosing the best doctor as your primary care physician is something that you need to do carefully and wisely. In that case, you need a proper and definitely working strategy. 

Keep these in mind

No matter your bond with the primary care physician can be long-term or short-term due to different life-related and economical reasons. As an example, some patient-primary care relationships can be lifespan due to both of them living in the same region for a long time while some relationships can end soon due to a change of life insurance or moving away. This should not affect the decision you make since you need good medical help every time, no matter if it is long-term or short-term.

You might also like to read :- How to choose your doctor in Sri Lanka

You can search the internet

First of all, you can search for doctors with your smartphone or computer with internet access. If you are a Sri Lankan person who is reading this, the first step will be a bit hard because Sri Lanka is still poor with cloud databases and digital technology related to health. But don’t worry. We at Deedmed Lives are empowering the health sector with innovative digital technologies. We already have an Islandwide partnership with the best doctors in city hospitals and rural hospitals who are qualified, talented, and experienced. You can easily log in to the Deedmed Lives patient portal by downloading our app via Google Playstore or Apple Store. As soon as you are in we have provided the chance to explore the doctors and their details to choose the best doctor that suits you.

Contact a private hospital

You can easily call a private hospital and ask for primary care physicians and their details. They will provide you with a list or ask you to use their official website. Both two methods will work right for you in choosing the best doctor as your primary care physician in Sri Lanka. No matter how you get the details, a doctor’s directory in a reputed private hospital is the best option to continue the procedure.

Ask for recommendations

This is the most important next step once you are done with searching the internet. People around you may have both good and bad experiences with doctors and hospitals. So, you always have to be open-minded when asking for recommendations from people. You can call the people you know who have the same conditions you are suffering and ask about the primary care doctor they are getting advice from. If you are not good in the social circle, don’t worry you can join some Facebook groups with your locals who are trying to get rid of the condition and study their experiences with the doctors they consult. You can also follow some Facebook pages of the doctors you found and look for the reviews that patients have made.

Check with your insurance company

We assume you may have a proper insurance service provider for yourself and the family. If you haven’t, we recommend choosing the best service provider and obtaining the service. We will bring you another precious blog on how to choose the best insurance provider very soon and link you below. Better keep subscribed to our blog and follow us on Social media. You can easily find us by searching “Deedmed Lives” on Facebook or clicking the attached Facebook and Instagram Links attached on the website.

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Well. When it comes to choosing the best doctor by asking the insurance service provider for one in their insurance plan’s network, you have already been narrowed. That’s why you need to choose the best life insurance as we mentioned above. Although some insurance plans let you choose a doctor outside your insurance plan’s network, you will have to pay more for a hassle-free medical experience. However, when choosing the best doctor with the assistance of the insurance company, first call them and ask for the list of doctors. You might get a list of doctors via e-mail, or text messages, or they will ask you to use the website. Then, call the doctor’s office and ask them to confirm that they take your plan — have your insurance card handy in case they need to know your plan details.

Analyze the qualifications and expertise

Now you are with a list of doctors you are interested in and obtained via the different methods mentioned above. Now comes the important next step. Start narrowing the list you obtained via different methods. Several different types of doctors will be identified as primary care physicians – typically Family Practice, Internal Medicine, or General Practice. Some doctors focus on children, called Pediatricians, who will serve as the primary care physician for your child. 

• Family Practice – They can treat patients of all ages from newborns to 60 plus. Otherwise, they treat a wide range of conditions, and sometimes they can treat ailments usually you need to see a specialist.
• Internal Medicine – They are usually for adults. They specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, and management of disease and chronic conditions. 
• General Practice – These physicians are like family practice doctors who treat patients of any gender or age. You may find osteopaths, which are physicians that can provide you with alternative medicine with a striking focus on the musculoskeletal system. You can easily distinguish them by the “D.O.” after their name instead of “M.D.”

Choosing the best doctor for you will need some other practices than these basic things. Those things are most like the qualities of the doctor but are important to think of. You can first focus on these things and we will bring you that information soon. Learn your health every day with Deedmed Lives to focus on your fitness. We are always with you!