Choosing a Doctor or Health Care Service

On this page

Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

• Health Check Tools

Research

• Statistics and Research
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Teenagers
• Older Adults
• Patient Handouts

Summary

We all want high-quality health care, but it's hard to know how to choose. There are many things to consider, including:

• What your insurance covers
• Whether a health care provider or service is accredited
• The location of a service
• Hours that the service is available
• Whether you like a health care provider's personality

On this page you'll find information to help you choose a health care provider or service.

Start Here

Collapse Section

• How to Choose a Doctor You Can Talk to (National Institute on Aging)

Related Issues

Expand Section

• 6 Things to Know When Selecting a Complementary Health Practitioner (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health) Also in Spanish
• Choosing a Family Doctor (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Choosing a Safe and Successful Weight-Loss Program (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Finding Cancer Care (National Cancer Institute)
• Health Care Providers: Family Doctors (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Helping You Choose: Quality Ambulatory Care (Joint Commission) - PDF
• Helping You Choose: Quality Hospice Care (Joint Commission) - PDF
• Helping You Choose: Quality Hospital Care (Joint Commission) - PDF
• Helping You Choose: Quality Nursing Care Center Services (Joint Commission) - PDF
• Mental Health Providers: Tips on Finding One (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Specifics

Expand Section

• Health Care Providers: Midwives (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Health Check Tools

Expand Section

• QuestionBuilder App (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

Expand Section

• FastStats: Ambulatory Care Use and Physician Office Visits (National Center for Health Statistics)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Expand Section

• Article: Language complexity of patient-physician chat communication on hypertension control: results of...
• Article: Investigating Whether AI Will Replace Human Physicians and Understanding the Interplay...
• Article: Influence of teaching a structured and humanized method of care on...
• Choosing a Doctor or Health Care Service -- see more articles

Find an Expert

Expand Section

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• DocInfo (Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States)
• Find a Dialysis Facility (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
• Find Nursing Homes Including Rehab Services (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Also in Spanish
• Medicare: Find and Compare Health Care Providers (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Also in Spanish
• MedlinePlus: Directories (National Library of Medicine)
• National Institute on Aging Also in Spanish

Children

Expand Section

• Finding a Doctor for Your New Baby (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

Expand Section

• Choosing a Primary Health Care Provider (PCP): General Information for Young Women (Boston Children's Hospital)

Older Adults

Expand Section

• Different Care Settings at the End of Life (National Institute on Aging)
• How to Choose a Doctor You Can Talk to (National Institute on Aging)

Patient Handouts

Expand Section

• Choosing a doctor and hospital for your cancer treatment (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Choosing a primary care provider (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish