IN THIS ARTICLE: How to Use This Guide Choosing a Doctor Getting the Best Care What to Expect from Your Doctor and When to Switch Our Survey Methods, Definitions, and Limitations Lists of Primary Care Physicians Are Limited Area Definitions

Search Top Doctors in Your Area How to Use This Guide  You can use our lists of top-rated doctors in several ways—  If you have a doctor and want an independent second opinion, this guide will help you find a second-opinion doctor.  If you are choosing a health plan (health maintenance organization or preferred provider organization), you can use this guide to size up the quality of physicians in each of the competing plans’ provider directories. You will want a plan that offers you a choice of a substantial number of this guide’s listed physicians in your area.  If you don’t have a primary care (personal general-care) doctor you trust, you should get one, and this guide might help you to identify a few candidates (please see limitations in our section on primary care physicians). Alternatively, you might be able to find a good specialist of a type you know you need (an allergist or dermatologist, for example) from this guide and ask the specialist to recommend a primary care doctor.  If you have a primary care doctor you trust, you will want to rely heavily on that doctor for referrals to other doctors, but it makes sense to discuss your doctor’s referral recommendations. You can ask the doctor about specialists in this guide. The doctor might not have thought about some of the options you can suggest or might not shoot quite so high on the quality scale without your prodding.  Even if you have a good primary care doctor, you might find it saves you time to make your own referrals to specialists of types you know you need—an orthopedist for a broken bone or a plastic surgeon, for example—assuming your health plan allows you to self-refer.  If your primary care doctor is guided by health plan rules or by the rules of his or her group practice to refer only to a specific specialist of each type, you can check whether the designated specialist is listed in this guide. If not, and if you feel your health problem is more than just a routine case, you might want to discuss with your doctor going outside the rules to use one of the doctors listed in this guide.  If you are not satisfied with a doctor your health plan insists you use, you might choose a doctor from this guide and be armed with this guide as you argue for a special referral decision.  To use this guide effectively, you need to know how it is organized.  Our lists include doctors in the 53 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. The doctors are listed within geographic areas. The areas are generally defined by one or more counties, though some of the doctors listed in an area might practice outside county boundaries. Our custom search feature allow you to compile a list of top-rated doctors by region, specialty, and other characteristics that may be of interest to you.  Each doctor’s listing gives a few background facts on the doctor and indicates how many times the doctor was mentioned by other doctors in his or her community. You might have greatest confidence in the quality of the doctors who received the most mentions (recommendations) from their peers.  Choosing a Doctor  Probably the most important single thing you can do to assure yourself high-quality medical care is to form a strong relationship with a good primary care physician. You need a doctor you can trust and talk openly with if a serious medical problem arises. This doctor should be familiar with your medical history, your family relationships, and other factors that can help in diagnosing the physical and emotional causes of health problems. You will rely on this doctor to guide and coordinate your care through the rest of the health care system—to refer you to specialists, for instance, or to meet you at the emergency department to oversee your care after an accident.  Your primary care doctor should be a family practitioner, internist, or pediatrician (for children), or perhaps an obstetrician/gynecologist (for women). If you are in an HMO, you won’t be allowed to get your primary care from any other specialty. But even if you have traditional insurance, you are better off not to rely on a more narrow specialist—say, a surgeon—for primary care because a specialist may see the cures for your health problems in the tasks he or she is skilled to perform—surgery, perhaps, where drug therapy would suffice.  Until you have a primary care doctor you fully trust, you will have to take lead responsibility for selecting any specialist you need. This guide will be especially valuable to you in that situation. It will also have special value any time you need to select a specialist for a second opinion or any time you become dissatisfied with a specialist to whom your primary care doctor has referred you.  Even if you have a primary care doctor you feel you can rely on for referrals, you will still want to have an active role in choosing specialists. You will get better choices if you discuss a few candidates with your doctor, including candidates you identify in this guide. That is especially important if your primary care doctor has reason to select only from a limited set of candidates because of health plan or medical group referral procedures. In addition, only you can judge whether any specialist you use relates well to you personally and is convenient.  When looking for a good primary care doctor, one approach is to ask friends and associates for recommendations. Other options are to get recommendations from a doctor you have known in some other part of the country or from a local specialist you have used.  This guide includes listings of a small number of primary care doctors in each community. You can select one of the listed doctors. Alternatively, if you know that you need a specific type of specialist, you can select a specialist of that type using this guide (assuming your health plan allows you to go to a specialist of your choice) and you can ask that specialist to recommend primary care doctors.  In most communities, there are widely advertised phone numbers to call for doctor referrals. These referral lines are not always a good source of candidates. Many simply refer to any doctor who pays a fee to be listed. Others are set up by hospitals as a service for their affiliated physicians and as a way to channel more patients to these physicians. A hospital benefits when affiliated physicians get more patients because these patients are likely to use that hospital when the need arises.  If you decide to get referrals from a hospital, it makes sense to turn to a teaching hospital (if there is one in your community) and to ask for doctors who have teaching responsibilities. Hospitals attached to medical schools are good prospects, but you can also seek out other hospitals that have major programs to provide post-medical school (residency) training programs for substantial numbers of new doctors. Although the full-time faculty at medical schools may include only a handful of primary care physicians, a surprisingly large number of doctors teach—often putting in two or three hours per week in clinical work with medical students and residents while maintaining their own practices. The teaching experience exposes the doctor to new medical developments and to continued challenges to his or her own standards of practice.  Two national directories can help you in your search for doctors: American Medical Directory, published by the American Medical Association (AMA), and the Directory of Medical Specialists published by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). Both give a few key facts about the training and background of listed physicians. They are available at many libraries and provide listings on the Web through the links provided here.  If you are a member of a health maintenance organization (HMO) or preferred provider organization (PPO) or if you are considering becoming a member and want to know in advance about the doctors you might choose in a plan, you can cross-reference the list of prospects you compile from other sources with the health plan’s provider directory. In fact, you also may be able to use the directory or the plan’s administrative staff as a source of information on prospects. The directories often give background information on doctors, and some plan administrative staffs can give you a list of doctors who meet certain criteria you specify—for example, doctors who use a specific hospital or who are in a certain age range. Be advised, however, that many of these directories are not updated promptly by the health plans and may include or exclude certain physicians erroneously.  When you have identified a few potential candidates to be your primary care doctor, you will want to ask some questions about each. A few can be answered from the directories; others will require a call to the doctor’s office; and still others can be answered only by checking with other patients or by meeting—or using—the doctor. The following are a few of the more important questions. Many of these questions will also apply when you are checking out specialists.  Does the doctor work as a personal, or family, doctor on a primary care basis? For children, adults, or both?  Is the doctor taking new patients—specifically patients from your health plan?  At what hospitals does the doctor admit patients? You do well to have a doctor who can admit patients to both at a major teaching hospital, if there is one in your area, and at a well-run community hospital, which might be more pleasant for uncomplicated, low-risk procedures. There is a good chance these are the hospitals you will be admitted to if you need hospitalization—even if it is a different specialist who admits you. Your doctor is likely to refer you to specialists who practice at the same hospitals he or she uses.  Does the doctor use an electronic health record system? Will the doctor use the system to record the health history information collected from you and to recall this health history at the time of each encounter with you? Will the doctor use the system to enter lab service orders, x-ray orders, and/or prescription orders; will these orders be communicated directly to labs and pharmacies for you; and will the results of tests be communicated back to the physician and entered into your personal record electronically? Does the health record system automatically ask the doctor questions; check for possible drug interaction problems; and suggest tests, diagnoses, or treatments? Does the system automatically issue alerts about abnormal tests, the need to follow up on referrals, and other actions the doctor should take? Will it issue reminders to patients?  There is reason to believe that the greatest opportunities for improvements in medical care are in the implementation and use of electronic health record systems. But at this time only about 15 to 20 percent of physicians report using such systems, the systems vary greatly in features and capabilities, many are becoming outdated, and many doctors who have them use only a fraction of the features the systems offer.  Is the doctor “board certified” in his or her specialty? Although a well-recommended doctor who is neither “board certified” nor “board eligible” may serve you admirably, there seems to be little reason not to seek out certification, which means that the doctor has taken at least two to six years of post-medical school training and has passed a difficult exam.  Where did the doctor take his or her residency? If the hospital where the doctor took advanced post-medical school training—called a “residency”—has a recognizable university tie, this almost assures that the doctor received good instruction—for instance, Duke University Hospital or Stanford University Medical Center. But just because you can’t recognize a university connection in the name of the hospital does not mean there is none. Harvard University uses Massachusetts General, for example.  What medical school did the doctor attend? Virtually all medical schools in the United States are acknowledged to be of relatively high quality. A few other countries, such as Canada, Britain, Switzerland, and Belgium, have schools of comparable quality. So give special consideration to doctors who went to school in the U.S. or one of these countries. But remember that most experts think the location of a physician’s residency is more revealing than the medical school attended.  Has the doctor been singled out for special recognition by your health plan? More and more plans have programs to identify top-performing doctors—for example, primary care doctors who ensure that a high percentage of their diabetic patients get appropriate tests for hemoglobin levels and eye exams, and get other appropriate procedures.  When did the doctor graduate from medical school? This tells you roughly how old the doctor is. You may prefer a doctor who has many years of practical experience, who has seen firsthand a vast range of medical problems. On the other hand, you might want a younger doctor who is not likely to retire soon, forcing you to find another doctor. A recent graduate might also have more up-to-date training, although many doctors who completed their formal training many years ago keep current by way of teaching, hospital activities, and continuing education programs.  Does the doctor have teaching responsibilities at a hospital? If you found the doctor’s name through a hospital referral service, you may already have this answer. The answer is important because a teaching position reflects respect from colleagues and also assures that the doctor is regularly exposed to new developments and to questions from medical students and residents.  Does the doctor practice in a group or alone? Doctors who share an office may share ideas and maintain informal standards of quality. They may also be able to operate more efficiently by sharing costly equipment and specialized staff. Finally, if the group includes doctors with different specialties, referrals are convenient and your medical record can be comprehensive, incorporating all the specialists’ comments (but the group’s doctors might not be as flexible as you would like in referring you outside the group to the very best specialist for a particular health problem).  What are the doctor’s hours? Many doctors schedule weekend or evening hours to accommodate patients’ work schedules.  How does the doctor cover emergencies on nights and weekends? If a doctor does not have an arrangement with at least one other doctor to share “on call” duties, be wary. Where will you turn when the doctor is out of town, ill, or at a meeting?  Does the doctor give advice over the phone to regular patients? Does the doctor answer questions by e-mail? Is there a charge for such advice? Telephone and e-mail advice can be a great convenience—a partial substitute for the house call most doctors are reluctant to make. With malpractice liability looking them in the eyes, doctors will be careful about giving such advice in questionable cases, but most doctors give some advice over the phone, and many are now using e-mail. Very few charge to give such advice as long as patients come in for office visits occasionally and don’t call or e-mail every few days.  What is the usual wait for an appointment for a nonemergency medical problem? For a full physical exam?  Will the doctor deal with your insurance carrier? You save time if your doctor will bill your insurance company directly. If you are on Medicare, it is important to know whether the doctor will accept the Medicare payment as payment in full.  What is the charge to you for a routine follow-up office visit? For a routine follow-up hospital visit? For a typical general physical exam? These answers will give you a sense of what the doctor’s charges might be for other services also, and of how the doctor’s charges relate to the payment rules of your health plan.  Does the doctor make an effort to prescribe generic drugs whenever appropriate? Generic drugs are usually cheaper and just as good as their brand-name equivalents.  How convenient is the doctor’s office? Is there public transportation? Parking?  What lab, x-ray, and machine diagnostic tests can be done without your going to another office?  Before making a final decision about a physician, it’s a good idea to check whether the physician has been the subject of disciplinary actions. Unfortunately, the information currently available to consumers is limited, but residents of many states can get some information on disciplinary actions from state-run websites. We provide links to state medical board websites here, where you can find information on disciplinary actions.  When you have gathered all the information you can from calls to physicians’ offices, talks with friends, this guide, and other sources, you may want to visit the physician who looks best to you. This is not uncommon for patients choosing a new primary care doctor, but would be unusual for a specialist. A visit just to meet a doctor should be inexpensive or free. But some consumers will find a meeting of this kind awkward, and some of the doctors we have interviewed share this feeling. As a considerably more expensive alternative, you can schedule a physical exam.  Getting the Best Care  Whichever doctor you select, how you interact with the doctor will have a big effect on the success of your care. Here are a few suggestions.  Be Sure Your Doctor Takes a Thorough Medical History   If you feel your doctor has not asked about matters that might be important in diagnosing or treating you, volunteer the information. If both of your parents had colon cancer, if your dad had a heart attack at age 40, if you recently had a bout with kidney stones, or if you periodically feel very depressed, let the doctor know.  Find Out About Tests Your Doctor Proposes to Do  Ask your doctor what tests he or she will do during routine visits—mammogram, hemocult to check for blood in your stool, PSA test for prostate cancer, electrocardiogram, sigmoidoscopy to check your rectum and lower colon, cholesterol test, HIV test, test for chlamydia? Ask why specific tests and not others are given. If there are particular medical problems you’re concerned about, ask if there are relevant tests and why they do or don’t make sense for you.  There’s a lot of debate in the medical field about which routine tests are worth doing for which population groups and how often. There are reasons not to give tests: some are unpleasant, some are costly, some pose risks of complications, and all have the possibility of indicating that you have a problem you really don’t have—leading to costly, unpleasant, and possibly dangerous treatment. You should be given an opportunity to express your preferences regarding tests, based on information about each test’s pros and cons.  You should learn not only about routine tests given during preventive exams but also about any tests prescribed to check out a specific symptom or medical problem. Ask what each test will tell you that you don’t already know, how reliable it is, what the risks and costs are, and whether the results might really make any difference in treatment plans.  Be Sure You Are Told the Results of Exams and Treatment  At the time of a doctor visit, ask when the results will be available and how you’ll be told of them. Some doctors tell you nothing unless there is a problem. That approach may leave you wondering long after your doctor has the answers. There’s also the risk that phone messages will be lost and you won’t realize that a doctor called to give you results. If you know that a doctor is supposed to call and when, you’ll be able to check back if the time for your report passes.  Discuss the Results of Exams  When you get test results, ask the doctor to compare them to results from previous tests and ask whether there are changes that might be worth making in your life to improve results. Even if your cholesterol count or your weight is within an acceptable range, for example, is it worse than it was? Enough worse to do something about?  Prepare for Appointments  Before a doctor visit—either a visit to a doctor’s office or a visit by the doctor when you are in the hospital—get ready. Think what questions you want answered, what symptoms you’ve had, what treatments you’ve been giving yourself or that other providers have been giving you.  Write down your questions and other information to be sure you don’t forget to mention something. You might even bring the medications you’ve been using with you to the doctor’s office.  If the doctor seems to be rushing you through your list of items, explain that discussing these matters is important to you and that you think the doctor should give you enough time. You might want to arrange to have a friend with you for the doctor visit to help you push to get through your questions and to help you remember the doctor’s responses. You might even take a tape recorder.  Describe Symptoms in Detail  Does the problem occur only after you’ve just eaten, after you’ve exercised heavily, when you’ve been standing for a long time, only when you urinate? What does it feel like? When did you first notice the problem? Your description is a window on what’s going on inside—often a better window than all the examining and testing the doctor can do.  If you have fears that you might have a particular medical condition, tell the doctor. This will give the doctor a chance to investigate those concerns or to assure you that they are unfounded.  Find Out About Getting Answers by Phone  Many questions require a visit to the doctor or tests. But some can be resolved based on what you can communicate by phone. Also, a phone call can often help you determine whether a doctor visit is needed—and how soon.  Ask your doctor if there is a nurse you can talk with about questions you may have. And ask what is the best time to reach the doctor by phone.  Ask for a Full Explanation of Your Diagnosis, Treatment Options, and Outlook for Recovery  When your doctor has had a chance to evaluate your case, be sure you get a full explanation of what he or she has discovered, the choices you have, and what you can expect.  What isn’t working right? What caused it? What can be done about it now? If it’s curable, what can you do differently to avoid a recurrence—for example, eat differently, exercise differently, sleep differently, sit differently, change jobs, wear a brace?  How sure is the doctor of the diagnosis? What are the other possibilities? What more can be done to confirm the diagnosis? At what cost and what risk?  What are the treatment options? What are the risks and costs? What are the possible benefits in terms of your lifestyle and ability to function? How will you know if the treatment is working? What will you need to report to the doctor?  One of your fundamental rights as a patient is the right to informed consent. If you agree to a treatment—to allow a doctor to act on you with drugs, knives, or other instruments—and it is a treatment you would not have chosen had you better understood your options, the doctor’s actions really amount to an assault. That’s why responsible doctors understand the importance of trying to answer all your questions.  Ask About Referrals to Specialists  If your doctor refers you to a specialist, ask why a specialist is needed and why that particular specialist was chosen. What is known about his or her expertise and experience with your type of case? Is this the only specialist of this type that your primary doctor is able to refer you to under his or her arrangements with your health plan? Ask the doctor to compare the specialist to whom you are referred versus other specialists listed in Guide to Top Doctors.  What should you expect the specialist to do? How will your primary care doctor remain involved in your care?  If you are not referred to a specialist, ask why not. What extra expertise might a specialist bring to the case?  Remember that some health plans have physician compensation schemes that penalize—or reward—a doctor for making referrals to specialists.  Ask About Medication  If medication is recommended, ask why that particular medication. What benefits is it expected to have? How soon? What are the possible side effects and what should you do if you experience them? How should you take the medication—for example, with meals, at bedtime? Can you take it even though you’re taking other medications? What should you do if you forget to take a dose? Will the medication limit your capacity to drive, work, or do other activities?  You may find it useful to have on hand a drug reference book. The Consumer Reports Consumer Drug Reference covers thousands of brandname, generic, and over-the-counter drugs. Much of its content can be accessed for free online at www.consumerreports.org. The book can also be ordered for $48.45, including shipping and handling, from Consumer Reports, P.O. Box 10637, Des Moines, IA 50336-0637.  There are also free websites that provide extensive information on drugs—what they are for, possible side effects, interactions, etc. A useful site is MedLine Plus.  Ask About Hospitalization  If hospitalization is not recommended, ask why not. Hospitals are expensive and health plans are interested in cutting costs. If a plan pays its doctors by an arrangement that gives less income when patients are hospitalized, you want to be sure the financial incentives are not causing you to get too little care.  On the other hand, if hospitalization is recommended, ask why. Could the case be handled on an outpatient basis?  Hospitals are dangerous places. In a recent report, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences summarized evidence from two major studies indicating just how dangerous: “the results of these two studies imply that at least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors.” And there are many additional cases where hospital or doctor negligence slows recovery or leads to short-term or long-term disability. What’s more, even where there are no errors, infections and other problems can occur.  Also, be sure to ask why a particular hospital was chosen. Is it the only hospital to which your doctor is allowed to refer under arrangements with your health plan?  How complicated is your case? Does it require sophisticated hospital staff or advanced equipment? What are the risks of complications? Will it be important to have close monitoring and quick access to medical staff and equipment at all times? If the case is complicated, a major teaching hospital might be best.  Is your required treatment one for which special training or frequent experience is important? Are there certain hospitals where the staffs have more skill, more experience, or higher success rates than others with this treatment? In many types of cases—such as open heart surgery—research has shown that hospitals that treat a greater number of patients generally have better results.  Get a Second Opinion  If your doctor recommends hospitalization or other treatment that will be expensive, risky, or burdensome, get a second opinion. In such cases, most doctors will encourage second opinions. Most plans will be glad to pay, since the second opinion may lead to a recommendation of less care—and less cost.  If your doctor recommends against certain types of care that you know are available or if you are not confident in your doctor’s conclusions or satisfied with the progress of your case, you might want a second opinion to consider more or different care. In a traditional insurance plan or preferred provider organization, you can arrange for a second opinion on your own and the plan will generally pay for it. In an HMO, your doctor will have to refer you for the second opinion in order for the plan to pay. Since the second opinion might lead to more care, there may be some resistance to authorizing it. If you think a second opinion is justified, insist on one. If the first and second opinions are in conflict or for some other reason you’re still not confident in the conclusions, insist on a third opinion.  If possible, get your second opinion from an entirely independent doctor. If a surgeon who has recommended surgery refers you to another surgeon for a second opinion, it will be difficult for the second doctor to recommend against the advice (and the economic interests) of the first. This guide should be useful to you in identifying a doctor to consult for a second opinion. If you read up on your type of case—especially if it is of a type that is being actively researched at certain medical centers—you may come upon names of leading specialists who might be available for advice.  You’ll have more flexibility in choosing an independent doctor if you are in a traditional insurance plan or preferred provider organization than if you are in an HMO. In an HMO, your primary care doctor is likely to refer you to another participating doctor with whom he or she has regular contact.  To keep down the cost and time required for a second opinion, have your first doctor send copies of your medical records, x-rays, and lab results to the second opinion doctor. This is standard procedure.  Don’t assume that because yours is a straightforward, uncomplicated case there is nothing to learn and there are no decisions to be made. In most cases, there are choices.  This point is brought home by studies done by Dartmouth Medical School researchers and others, looking at variations in medical practice in common types of cases across similar geographic areas. One of these studies found, for example, that about 75 percent of the elderly men in one Maine town had undergone prostate surgery, compared with fewer than 25 percent of men the same age in an adjacent town. Similar variations have been found in rates of hysterectomies, caesarean sections, and other common procedures. Significantly, studies generally find no evidence that such medical practice differences result in differences in the health status of the affected populations.  The implication is that big differences in the ways patients are treated result from differences in the beliefs and customs of different physicians in different communities—possibly influenced by the need to generate fees and not necessarily based on sound evidence of likely benefits to the patient. Even in a common type of case, you can’t assume that a physician’s standard recommendation is the best option for you.  Do Your Own Medical Research  You can also find an enormous amount of medical information online. Several useful sites include the following: Healthfinder A free gateway to reliable consumer health and human services information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mayo Clinic General-information website with Mayo's advice and information, including such features as "Diseases and Conditions A-Z," "Condition Centers," "Healthy Living," and "Health Tools." MedlinePlus A consumer-oriented website that brings together authoritative information from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies and health-related organizations. Includes extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and recent health news. PubMed A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 17 million citations from academic journals for biomedical articles dating back to the 1950s. Includes links to many abstracts, full text articles, and other related resources. National Guideline Clearinghouse A resource sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that gives information on current guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Merck Manuals Online Medical Library Includes the "Merck Manuals Home Edition," which explains disorders, who is likely to get them, their symptoms, how they're diagnosed, how they might be prevented, how they can be treated, and prognoses. Also includes the "Merck Manual of Health and Aging" and other resources. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Health A to Z Consumer-oriented website with information on conditions and diseases, procedures, and drugs. Includes an "anatomy navigator," health tools and calculators, a medical dictionary, and other resources. Some of these sites, such as MedlinePlus, will lead you to information resources that range from consumer brochures to scholarly medical journals (for which you can generally view abstracts on the Web and place orders online for Internet, mail or fax delivery). Others, like Healthfinder, are set up to provide primarily consumer-oriented information.  Complain If Necessary  If you have a dispute with a doctor, you may be able to resolve it by discussion with the doctor. If that fails, you can file a formal complaint. We have a provided a list of state medical boards that hear such complaints. What to Expect from Your Doctor and When to Switch  After your first encounter or any subsequent encounter with a doctor, you should feel free to look for a new one if you are not satisfied, and you have a right to your medical records to pass along to your new doctor. But you will be wise not to shop continually from doctor to doctor. An established relationship with a doctor you like and trust is a real asset.   The following are a few performance standards you should expect any doctor to meet—  Offers reasonably convenient hours.  Calls you back the same day if you call with a medical question—within a few minutes if you have left a message that there is an emergency—so long as you don’t call much more often than you go in for visits.  Gives helpful medical advice by phone.  Generally arranges to see you within a day or two if you call with a new (non-emergency) sickness or injury.  Generally does not keep you waiting more than 15 minutes past your appointment time before serving you.  Refers you for specialty care when you think you need it.  Is thorough and careful and seems to be competent.  Remembers, or consults records about, your medical history and relevant information you have given before.  Takes a thorough medical history.  Listens to you, doesn’t interrupt you, and makes you feel comfortable about asking questions.  Checks your progress, tells you about test results, and follows up with other providers you’re referred to.  Explains what is wrong, what is being done, and what you can expect.  Tells you about your choices and gets you involved in making decisions about your care.  Seems personally to care about you and your medical problems.  Spends enough time with you.  Gives you helpful advice about ways to stay healthy.  Gets results as good as you believe you can reasonably expect.  Being able to communicate and work well with your doctor is critical. Much research has shown that patients who have a good relationship with a doctor tend to get more accurate diagnoses, respond better to treatment, and recover more quickly. Certainly, you’re more likely to do your part in care—taking medicine and making lifestyle changes—if you understand what is expected of you, why it’s important, and what effects you can expect to observe.  There are no absolute standards in terms of the waits you should expect and the time you should get with a doctor. You will have to decide what level of service you are comfortable with, given your own reasonable judgment of the urgency of your condition, the time needed for effective communication, and other factors. For example, a doctor who spends a lot of time with you but doesn’t ask pertinent questions or devotes the time to talking about himself isn’t serving you well.  In a traditional health insurance plan or preferred provider organization plan and in some HMOs, switching doctors is as easy as making an appointment with a new doctor. In many HMOs, you have to inform the customer service department of your intent to switch and you may have to wait until the first of the next month or even the next open enrollment period. In some HMOs that contract with doctors’ groups, it’s easier to switch to another doctor within the same physician group than to switch to a doctor in another of the HMO’s groups.  Even if a plan’s standard procedures require you to wait for a period before making a switch, you’re likely to be able to move more quickly if you feel a switch is urgent and you ask the plan to make an exception to its rules.  Be sure your new doctor gets your medical records from your old doctor. Remember, in many cases, your history is the most useful aid in diagnosis—more useful than all the tests and x-rays that can be done. If your new doctor isn’t interested in getting your old medical records, ask why (it’s true that the records may not be easy to read or understand). You may want to get the records to store on your own—or at least be sure the former doctor will save them for many years.  Our Survey Methods, Definitions, and Limitations  How the Lists of Doctors Were Put Together  To identify the “top doctors” listed in this guide, we surveyed roughly 340,000 physicians. We surveyed physicians in the areas listed below. This included the 53 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Within these areas, we surveyed all active office-based doctors on the American Medical Association (AMA) mailing list except doctors in residency training, engaged only in research, or in a few other limited categories. The AMA list is a comprehensive list, which includes both AMA members and doctors who are not AMA members.  We asked each surveyed doctor to tell us which one or two specialists, in each of 35 different specialty fields, he or she “would consider most desirable for care of a loved one.”  Our list of doctors in each area contains the names of physicians who were mentioned multiple times by other physicians in their communities. Names appear in the specialty category chosen by the surveyed physicians.  With each physician’s name, we report the number of mentions the physician received in our survey. Because of the nature of the survey, physicians in some specialties with large numbers of practitioners are unlikely to be mentioned more than a few times, while physicians in specialties with only a few practitioners but a fairly large number of patients may get a large number of mentions. Also, we received more responses to our survey in some areas of the country than in others. Accordingly, in some specialties and in some areas, we have listed specialists mentioned as few as three times; in other specialties and other areas, the cutoff was 10 mentions or more.  On the list, we indicate the medical school from which each physician graduated and his or her year of graduation. Information on medical school and year of graduation comes from a list compiled by the AMA or the doctors themselves. Addresses and phone numbers come from forms we sent or from calls we made to the doctors’ offices.  The list also shows what "board certifications," if any, each doctor holds. Board certification means that a physician has taken several years of practical training in a field after graduating from medical school and has passed a difficult exam in that field. Information on board certification comes from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). We used an ABMS list from April 1, 2009; keep in mind that this list could not include certification information on doctors who were certified after the list was compiled. In May 2009, we asked the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) to tell us about certifications by osteopathic physician specialty boards for the doctors on our list who we identified as having graduated from schools of osteopathic medicine. Unfortunately, the AOA declined to work with us to provide this information. We have made great efforts to compile accurate information on addresses, phone numbers, and credentials for each physician, but these facts may have changed by the time you read this guide, and no doubt in a guide of this size there are some facts that are reported in error.  Keep in mind that our survey didn’t ask about all specialties, so some physicians did not have an opportunity to be included on our lists.  Obviously, there are some possible biases in lists of the kind you will find in this guide. For example, doctors could recommend close colleagues or other doctors with whom they have financially beneficial back-and-forth referral arrangements. Since we asked for recommendations in 35 specialty fields and invited doctors to recommend two doctors in each field, however, it is likely that most doctors were mentioning many specialists with whom they had no financial connections. It is also possible that some doctors who got favorable mentions did so just because they are well-known. They might have gotten negative mentions from other doctors if we had asked for negatives. Nonetheless, favorable mentions by a number of doctors—the more the better—are likely to be a good sign. Our list should steer you to some very good candidates.  Lists of Primary Care Physicians Are Limited   We have included on the lists of physicians in this guide the three primary care fields—family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics. Because recommendations in each community were spread across many hundreds of physicians in these fields, very few received even three mentions. So our listings of physicians in any community in these primary care fields don’t begin to include the many top-quality primary care doctors in that community. Even in other specialty fields, the likelihood that a doctor will get a substantial number of mentions is affected by the number of other doctors in the same community in the same field. For example, obstetricians/gynecologists and psychiatrists are generally less likely to get a large number of mentions than are cardiac surgeons, since there are relatively few cardiac surgeons who could be mentioned in any community.  Area Definitions  Alabama Birmingham Area—includes Jefferson and Shelby counties Arizona Phoenix Area—includes Maricopa County Arkansas Memphis Area—includes Crittenden, DeSoto, and Shelby counties California Los Angeles and Orange counties Riverside and San Bernardino counties Sacramento Area—includes Sacramento County San Diego Area—includes San Diego County San Francisco Bay Area—includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma counties Colorado Denver Area—includes Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, and Jefferson counties Connecticut Fairfield and New Haven counties Hartford Area—includes Hartford County Delaware Delaware Valley Area—includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and New Castle counties District of Columbia Washington, DC, Area—includes the District of Columbia, Alexandria, and Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties Florida Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties Jacksonville-St. Augustine Area—includes Clay, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns counties Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties South Florida—includes Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties Volusia, Seminole, Orange, and Brevard counties Georgia Greater Atlanta Area—includes Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale counties Illinois Chicago Area—includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties St. Louis Area—includes City and County of St. Louis and Jefferson, Madison, St. Charles, and St. Claire counties Indiana Indianapolis Area—includes Marion County Louisville Area—includes Bullitt, Clark, Floyd, Jefferson, and Oldham counties Kansas Kansas City Area—includes Cass, Clay, Jackson, Johnson, Platte, and Wyandotte counties Kentucky Cincinnati Area—includes Hamilton County Louisville Area—includes Bullitt, Clark, Floyd, Jefferson, and Oldham counties Maryland Baltimore Area—includes City and County of Baltimore Washington, DC, Area—includes the District of Columbia, Alexandria, and Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties Massachusetts Boston Area—includes Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk counties Michigan Greater Detroit and Washtenaw County Area—includes Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties Minnesota Twin Cities Area—includes Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington, and Wright counties Mississippi Memphis Area—includes Crittenden, DeSoto, and Shelby counties Missouri Kansas City Area—includes Cass, Clay, Jackson, Johnson, Platte, and Wyandotte counties St. Louis Area—includes City and County of St. Louis and Jefferson, Madison, St. Charles, and St. Claire counties Nevada Las Vegas Area—includes Clark County New Jersey Delaware Valley Area—includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and New Castle counties Northern and Central New Jersey—includes Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties New York Buffalo-Niagara Falls Area—includes Erie and Niagara counties New York Metropolitan Area—includes New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County Rochester Area—includes Monroe County North Carolina Charlotte Area—includes Mecklenburg County Forsyth and Guilford counties Triangle Area—includes Durham, Orange, and Wake counties Ohio Cincinnati Area—includes Hamilton County Cleveland Area—includes Cuyahoga, Lake, and Lorain counties Columbus Area—includes Franklin County Oklahoma Oklahoma City Area—includes Canadian, Cleveland, and Oklahoma counties Oregon Portland Area—includes Clackamas, Clark, Multnomah, and Washington counties Pennsylvania Greater Philadelphia Area—includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and New Castle counties Pittsburgh Area—includes Allegheny County Rhode Island The entire state of Rhode Island Tennessee Memphis Area—includes Crittenden, DeSoto, and Shelby counties Nashville Area—includes Davidson County Texas Austin Area—includes Travis County Dallas-Ft. Worth Area—includes Dallas and Tarrant counties Houston Area—includes Harris County San Antonio Area—includes Bexar County Utah Salt Lake City Area—includes Salt Lake County Virginia Norfolk Area—includes City of Norfolk Richmond-Petersburg Area—includes cities or counties of Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie, Hanover, Henrico, Hopewell, Petersburg, Prince George, and Richmond Washington, DC, Area—includes the District of Columbia, Alexandria, and Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties Washington Puget Sound Area—includes King, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, and Snohomish counties Wisconsin Milwaukee Area—includes Milwaukee County Return to Search Top Doctors Page Back to top