By Mary Wellhoner, MD
A couple more things come to mind.
Some gynecology practices and physicians focus mainly on doing surgery and procedures. While you may need surgery right now or at some point in the future, there is much more to your gyn care than surgery and procedures. It might be valuable to look at what other services the practice provides to take care of all your other women's health needs, and whether they are easily available to take care of your urgent visits and annual exams, as well.
Also, we are seeing a number of patients now who have been booted out of their gynecologist's offices when they turn 65 and go on Medicare. I had a patient the other day who was with her Ob/Gyn for 34 years and now has to seek other care because she aged into Medicare. If you are near Medicare age, or have friends and family of that age you may want to refer to your gyn -- or maybe if you just don't like the idea of Medicare patients being dropped from care -- you may want to factor this into your decision in choosing a gynecologist.
A couple more things come to mind.
Some gynecology practices and physicians focus mainly on doing surgery and procedures. While you may need surgery right now or at some point in the future, there is much more to your gyn care than surgery and procedures. It might be valuable to look at what other services the practice provides to take care of all your other women's health needs, and whether they are easily available to take care of your urgent visits and annual exams, as well.
Also, we are seeing a number of patients now who have been booted out of their gynecologist's offices when they turn 65 and go on Medicare. I had a patient the other day who was with her Ob/Gyn for 34 years and now has to seek other care because she aged into Medicare. If you are near Medicare age, or have friends and family of that age you may want to refer to your gyn -- or maybe if you just don't like the idea of Medicare patients being dropped from care -- you may want to factor this into your decision in choosing a gynecologist.