Type 2 Diabetes - 7 Important Tips to Help With How You Choose Your Primary Care Doctor!

The day-to-day responsibilities of diabetesare offered single medications first, especially
management falls squarely on the person witholder medications that are useful for many
type 2 diabetes, but every diabetic needs todiabetics, such as Metformin.
collaborate with a physician for optimum care.4. Not getting to see your doctor at all: To
Here are seven considerations for choosing thesqueeze in more patients, many clinics hire
right doctor, that every diabetic needs to know:physician assistants, or PA's. A PA has training to
1. Appointments: The doctor diabetics see mostoffer routine diabetes care, but may not
often is their primary care physician. This is therecognize developing problems, (such as the early
doctor who will monitor your HbA1c and bloodsigns of thyroid disease, or the early signs of
lipids, prescribe most medications, and take carecirculatory problems), and may have a philosophy
of minor illnesses. Since fewer and fewer doctors,of treatment that conflicts with your physician's.
at least in the United States, are going into familyKnow whether you will be seeing your physician
practice, appointments are harder and harder toor the PA on a regular basis.
get. It is important to find a doctor who honors5. When you are better off not seeing your
appointment times... and it's equally important thatregular doctor: If what you want is a shot before
you also make a habit of showing up on time.you take a foreign vacation, or walk-in treatment
2. Fees: In the USA in 2009, the average annualfor a sore throat, and you were going to see
earnings of a primary care physician wereyour doctor's PA anyway, why not save time
$201,548, according to Cejka Search, a physicianand go to the "Minute-Clinic" facilities in most larger
placement firm. That's a lot of money, but it palesmarkets and shopping malls. Just be sure to
in comparison to the earnings in other specialties.inform the healthcare service provider that you
The average American dermatologist, forhave type 2 diabetes and all the prescriptions you
example, earned $350,627, and the averagetake, and don't use walk-in clinics to get long-term
neurosurgeon earned $548,186. Your primary caremedications. Your primary care provider has to
physician is likely to be sensitive about moneyknow all the medications you take on a long-term
issues, especially if he or she is a recent graduatebasis.
of medical school paying off massive educational6. Timing use of insurance. Even as benefits are
debt. Some doctors order many tests todownsized, most insurance plans still cover 2 to 5
augment their office fees."free" doctor visits every year. You may notice a
3. Rewards for prescribing diabetes drugs: If youdistinct difference in your care when you reach
keep up with the literature of diabetes, you can'tthe visit that you have to pay for out of pocket.
help noticing that every year or so there is a newIf you see both a primary care physician and
"wonder drug" for diabetes. Your doctor's staffspecialists every year, you may want to use
may be taken out to lunch on a regular basis byyour "free" visits to see the specialist, who is
the pharmaceutical representative in hopes ofusually far more expensive.
getting face time with the doctor, (the same one7. Over-65 issues. Medicare pays less for some
who may not have time for your appointment).complicated procedures than it does for routine
Your doctor may be invited to attendoffice visits, and it is slow to pay at all. Many
"informative lectures" on these new drugs indoctors simply don't take Medicare patients. If
Hawaii, Tahiti, or the Caribbean. You, on the otheryou are on Medicare, it's a good idea to
hand, may be offered expensive drugs that don'tcooperate with your doctor as much as possible,
work, or worse, cause serious side effects. Awhile still insisting on good medical care.
good sign of a responsible physician is that you