By Vincent Enche
This past year my mother, Maria, and I decided to switch her Medicare coverage to Premera Blue Cross so she would have access to a larger network of doctors. Now that she's covered by a new Medicare Advantage health plan, we needed to find her a new doctor.
My mother is 85, has trouble walking, manages a few chronic conditions, and speaks only Spanish. I wanted a doctor near her home and one who speaks Spanish. I believe it's important for her to be able to speak directly with her doctor, and it would eliminate the need for me to act as an interpreter.
I started my search with Premera's Medicare Advantage Find a Doctor tool, where I was able to find family medicine doctors within five miles of her home. I then filtered my search to find doctors who also speak Spanish. I didn't want to limit myself to only doctors who speak Spanish, but I wanted to see what my options were.
And of course, I searched only for doctors in her Premera Medicare Advantage plan's network.
I whittled down our list of 273 doctors by eliminating those who were not in the immediate vicinity of her home. We wanted to keep it local, especially for spur of the moment appointments.
Now with a more manageable pool of 34 doctors, I used the web to see what I could learn about them. Several were affiliated with a local clinic. So I visited the clinic's website and the doctors' respective web pages, where I read their biographies, philosophies of care, and clinical and personal interests. I found this helpful because I was able to note those interested and experienced in geriatric care and other types of medical care relevant to my mother's chronic conditions.
After reading what a few of doctors wrote about their personal interests and philosophies, I asked my mother who her favorite doctor has been and why. She said she wanted a doctor like the first one she had after she moved to the Seattle area a few years ago. I asked what she liked about this doctor. "Very nice and very attentive. Made me feel welcome. Laughed a lot. We understood each other," she replied. I knew these qualities would not be explicitly stated in the doctors' biographies, but I tried to read between the lines to see if what they'd written reflected any of these qualities. And these were important things to look for in a doctor's demeanor when meeting them for the first time.
Soon I focused my attention on three doctors. It occurred to me to use Yelp as any shopper would when evaluating and deciding on a service they wish to purchase. I figured, "My wife used it to find us our favorite dim sum restaurant. Why not use it to find a favorite doctor?" Yet I was fully aware that I needed to use discretion when evaluating the reviews. Two of the three doctors received a handful of reviews—one of those was praised by reviewers for patience and attentiveness. According to my list, this particular doctor is fluent in Spanish plus a couple of other languages. Bingo!
My mother was experiencing some minor health issues, so I made an immediate appointment with this doctor—as sort of a trial run to see if he treated my mother the same way that her favorite doctor had.
Well, the doctor was everything she hoped for, listening to her patiently and indulging her digressions. Plus she really enjoyed speaking with him in Spanish and finally being able to speak for herself.
Success!
Premera Blue Cross is an HMO and HMO-POS plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Premera Blue Cross depends on contract renewal. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information, contact the plan. Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, provider network, premium and/or copayments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year.
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