Changing Drs.

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CathyAnn31

CathyAnn31

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Is it easy to change neurologists? The one I have has zero bedside manner and I'd like to find one that had concern for his patients.

If I were to find a new one, what would I have to do? Would the new Dr request my records? Would I pick those up? Would I have to start all over from scratch?

I've never changed Drs ever, in my life. Help!
 
If you are talking finding a new neurologist I would go to a teaching university.

If you are talking about a new PCP I would ask friends who they see, a doctor who has Saturday hours, etc.

1. The new doctor would have to accept your insurance plan.
2. Before your first appt the new doctor would probably send lots of paperwork for you to fill out, i.e. insurance, medical history, etc.
3. The office would also probably include a "Release of Medical Information" for you to also fill-out and submit or your current doctor may want you to fill a form out in their office to release information to your new doctor.

Good luck.
 
It may depend on your insurance. Mine is a "limited network" and my PCP has to make the referral.

Aside from that, as MaryK says, your new neuro should be able to obtain your records, you just may have to sign some paper to make it happen.
 
CathyAnn31

I do not know about the in the U.S. but in Ireland it can be a nightmare changing neurologists and GP'S, there are so few neurologists finding a good one and being accepted by them is hard. Generally you need to be refereed by your GP. But the new neurologist will get your records. Best of luck changing.
 
Thanks everyone. :)

Neuros are aplenty here, it's just finding one you like. I've spent hours researching Dallas neuros and reading their feedback.

Still at it. Sigh.
 
CathyAnn31

I wish you the best of luck and hopefully you will get a good one.
 
Cathy, something you want to consider when choosing a new dr is ease of contact. Before you settle on someone new, call their office a few times and see how easy or hard it is going to be to actually talk to your dr or his assistant. Not just the front office.
When I recently changed neuros, luckily I found one who is caring & has a good bedside manner. But. ...I can't reach him or his nurse in between visits. So what good is he other than a prescription writer? I wish I had chosen someone different.
Make sure you can reach them; maybe he/she has an email add you could use in emergency.
You can request your med records from your old dr & take them in with you when you see your new one. Make copies of them & keep them for yourself. Just my 2 cents.

Jackie
 
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jackier said:
Cathy, something you want to consider when choosing a new dr is ease of contact. Before you settle on someone new, call their office a few times and see how easy or hard it is going to be to actually talk to your dr or his assistant. Not just the front office.
When I recently changed neuros, luckily I found one who is caring & has a good bedside manner. But. ...I can't reach him or his nurse in between visits. So what good is he other than a prescription writer? I wish I had chosen someone different.
Make sure you can reach them; maybe he/she has an email add you could use in emergency.
You can request your med records from your old dr & take them in with you when you see your new one. Make copies of them & keep them for yourself. Just my 2 cents.

Jackie
Click to expand...

Thank you!!! I wouldn't have thought of doing that. Great tip!
 
You're welcome & good luck finding one. Make sure he/she is in your insurance's network. I think if I was doing it again I'd check out an epileptologist.
 
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jackier said:
Make sure you can reach them; maybe he/she has an email add you could use in emergency.
Click to expand...

I see an epileptologist at the University of CO (as MaryK said, the best neuros are at teaching hospitals, IMO). She was referred to me when I moved back here from TN. There I was seeing an epileptologist at UT. Both are female docs, have wonderful bedside manners, gave me their email addresses and I was/am able to reach them as needed. They have even called me several times when I was really having a difficult time just to check to see how I was doing.
 
My daughter is changing doctors right now. We picked one for her to see for a second opinion, made the appointment, and arranged to have the records sent from the old doctor before the appointment. The new doctor does it all, she just had to sign a release form which they emailed to us and we faxed back. After going back to the old doctor one more time, she has decided to switch. One reason she likes the second doctor better is that he does allow patients to email him directly with questions.
 
Hope you don't mind me adding on to your thread, but just wanted to say that I got so fed up with not reaching my neuro-that I got a ride to his office this afternoon and had to wait about 15 min to see his assistant. Bottom line- back in August my doc said he was referring me to a epileptologist at Univ of Cinci.(a teaching hosp)-that was August. I went in today & his assistant finally faxed the referral form to them. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction...
 
I have changed Neru. 3times in one years.



I 1st. checked with my insurance. to. make sure they were on their list.

I requested copies of my records and I went and pick them up. <(I don.t truest event he mail)

I when on the computer, printed out their forms and had them ready at the time of my appt.
 
Jacki, of course I don't mind, especially since it is related!

I've found one that gets decent feedback, I'll call Monday and see if they take my insurance. Also I'll need to see how soon I can get in. I run out of meds in December.

Thanks everyone. :)
 
I'm glad you are calling new dr. way ahead of time. I had an issue recently when I switched. New patient appointments were taking about 2 months and I'd waited till I only had 1 month of pills left.

You might want to check about how they transfer your records at your old place. I've been told some will fax or send records but often only pull out the important tests and other stuff. I don't know if they all do that, but I wanted my entire file transferred. And I was told they can charge you for that too. After I called the old place where my records were and gave them a heads up, I went and picked them up and hand-delivered to new. Gave me a chance to copy them to keep myself. Good luck with new dr.
 
Wow jy, 3 times in a yr? I hope 3rd times a charm for you!

Thanks Elsie.

Every response on this thread has been awesome. Thank you everybody!

If anyone else has anything to add, please do. It's very helpful.
 
I'm so thankful for this new Neur. that my GYN (however that is spelled)
referred me to.

Elise is right, when I asked for my records to be transfer to new Neur. they said they would only sent the last 3 appt. notes. I wanted the whole thing so that was one of reason I went to pick it up and I did have to pay something for it.

I hope you have the same luck I did, but hopefully you won't have to go for 3 .
 
Also by picking them up yoursellf you have the chance to read the records & if theres anything in there you disagree with you can point it out to the new dr. Like my previous dr (only saw for 2 1/2 yrs) he stated he told me about Ohio's driver license law-NOT- I havn't had my dl since I was 16! There were a couple other things that I disagreed with but I can't remember what they were right now.
Point is just be sure to read the records over because that is what the new doc will be going off of until he runs his on tests, etc.
 
Jackier makes a good point. I read in mine where the old Dr. didn't quite believe my report of having arrhythmia, called it doubtful because when he took my pulse he didn't detect it. I was able to look back in my records and document when & where I was when it was diagnosed, which tests, etc., I put that all on a big post it note and put on top of those comments!
 
Hey, CathyAnn - I sent you a PM.

I'm in the process of changing neuros. The new neuro wanted all my EEGs and MRIs, and all my doctor's notes. I just had to sign releases for the places that had done my previous testing, and the plan is that the old places are just going to send the records to the new place. I don't have to pick anything up. I do, however, have to follow up again tomorrow. I signed the releases on 9/19 and I don't think the new place has the majority of my records yet. Sometimes it takes a bit to get the records - I wouldn't wait until the week before your appointment at the new place to start trying to track them down.

My new place doesn't want to see me until I have records for them to review. I think they want a baseline and to see my prior diagnosis before they even evaluate me.
 
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