Finding the best local doctor

[esquire.]

What's your process for choosing a doctor? Is there a website or source that you turn to try to find out who the best doctors are in your area?

Its weird that there are all these tools and sources on the internet these days to determine what's the best shoe, the best TV, best restaurant, etc.. Yet, when it comes to healthcare, you're flying completely blind.

I'll look for board certification, but beyond that, I'm not sure what else I should look for.

I guess I could always turn to friends and family and ask about their doctors, but that method seems flawed- they have no idea if their doctors are actually good or made the correct diagnosis. And, that's assuming that we all share the same HMO and would have access to the same doctors.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

I asked my kids pediatrician who he uses. Docs are good, but they are one of those places where you wait 2 hours to be seen.

 

[acidboy]

mostly referrals for me. of course it doesn't hurt that a sibling is also in the medical field.

 

[esquire.]

My problem is the first doctor didn't know what the underlying problem is, and he didn't really have any referrals for a specialist in my area. When I asked him about it, I could tell by his eyes that he really didn't know anybody.

The more I looked into a way of finding the best doctors, I'm still surprised that nobody has done a better job with this yet. There are some sources that list 'best' doctors, but their methodology relies on doctors' surveys which doesn't necessarily mean those listed doctors are really the best.

If patients aren't the necessarily the best source because they don't know if their doctor's diagnosis is correct, then are doctors a better source if they aren't the patients of the doctors they recommend?

If I'm a male gynecologist, will I really know who the best gynecologists in my area are?