DECISIONS, DECISIONS
Can I Select a New Doctor Without Being a Racist, Sexist, Ageist Jerk?
Obviously, no.
Recently, I started working a new job and because America is stupid, I had to give up my long-term association with a health care institution and find a new doctor in a new medical organization to get covered by my new company’s health insurance.
Little did I know that the search for a new physician would lead to some painful evaluations. I was confronted with too much choice and a super challenge to my “wokeness.”
I started the search for a new primary care physician by going to the Blue Shield of California website and clicking on “Find A Doctor.” This took me to the organization's “extensive care provider network.”
After identifying my preferred medical office location — walking distance from my home, I got a list of primary caregivers to choose from. The list had doctors’ names and links to a profile page per name.
Selecting a new physician felt like I was hiring a physician — only without sufficient information because the profiles were not all equally complete. Some profile pages had all the boxes checked, most didn’t. The criteria I was looking at: med schools, years of experience, specialty, gender, language, heritage, and star…
