Is it ok to use two pediatric practices?

amother

Orange

Sun, Jun 21 2015, 7:53 pm

going anon for this bec of possible L'H.
I live in a town that has a local frum pediatrician. Dh and I ( and some other ppl I know) had run ins with the main dr bec of his bad bedside manner, rudeness etc. There is s frum female PA but she's not always there.
Also he's only open 1/2 a day and sometimes at night, so if ur kid is sick in the afternoon it's too bad.
I wanted to switch to a diff practice, but the one I tried out and liked a lot is about 30 minutes away. I don't drive, so the taxi is of course more expensive; plus it's a shlep just for a sore ear or throat.
How bad is it to go to both- one for minor things ( I'd see the PA locally or just put up w his attitude;) and go to the better one for more complex things or well visits?

JAWSCIENCE

Sun, Jun 21 2015, 8:27 pm

It could also mess with your insurance, depending on what type of insurance you have.

I'm not sure what these "minor things" that you are referring to are. You say you will travel the 30 minutes for well visits and complex things - which I assume means illness. What's left? an occasional strep swab? What if it's negative and you still need to know what's wrong with your kid - that can turn it into complex. You might do better to find a PA who has a small independent practice for swabs and the like and you proceed to the Dr. when needed. They will usually coordinate with your primary Dr. so you avoid awkwardness.

It sounds like you find the Dr. 30 minutes away pleasant and reasonable. Why not broach the subject with that individual - they are far and you will travel for scheduled well visits and anything that seems to need a Dr.'s exam but you are worried it is too far to schlep in for simple tests. Do they have any suggestions about somebody to coordinate with close by. If they are not comfortable with this set up, then you really should not be doing it sneakily and forcing them into it. Plus this way they KNOW there are parts of the medical history they need to be caught up on when you come in.

Leahh

Sun, Jun 21 2015, 10:58 pm

In Brooklyn it's common practice. Not exactly as you describe but many people use a pediatrician for well visits and more serious stuff but for more minor things like strep, ear infections.. they go to pa's that see patients in their homes at night. I think it's more for convenience of hours than anything else because many dr's have cut their hours and are not open late and these pa's are only open at night.
It could potentially be a problem if you have a child with chronic ear infections that should be seen by an ent. If the same dr is seeing the child he would hopefully catch the problem and refer you to an ent but if you go to a different dr each time or even a few of the times it may not be caught unless you catch it
also if your insurance requires a pcp it can be a little annoying to always be switching between the 2 dr's before the visits and if you forget to switch you can be held responsible for the bill.