How to Find a New Doctor When You Move: A Step-by-Step Guide | Take Care Together

Moving to a new city comes with a long to-do list, but finding the right doctor shouldn’t be left to chance.

In this episode of Take Care Together, Melody Mulaik and Ashley talk through the real-life process of relocating and navigating healthcare in an unfamiliar place. From finding in-network providers to managing prescriptions across state lines, they break down what you actually need to do before, during, and after your move.

If you’re moving soon, or even just thinking about switching doctors, this episode will help you stay ahead, avoid stress, and take control of your healthcare decisions.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How to find doctors in a new city (without feeling overwhelmed)
• Why starting with in-network providers saves time and money
• What to do about prescriptions, especially controlled medications
• How to transfer medical records the right way
• The smartest way to choose a healthcare system and primary care doctor

Timestamps:

• [00:01:00] Starting with your insurance provider
• [00:04:00] Preparing to transfer medical records
• [00:05:00] Planning for prescriptions
• [00:14:00] Scheduling primary care before you move
• [00:19:00] Knowing where to go for emergency care

Moving doesn’t just mean packing boxes; it means rebuilding your healthcare team. Start early, stay flexible, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. The more prepared you are, the smoother your transition will be.

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Transcript

Melody 0:12

Hello everybody, and welcome to this episode of Take Care Together, where Ashley and I cover a hot topic across a couple of generations. So, big news, big things going on for you. Why don't you tell everybody what's going on and why would we be talking about it on Take Care?

Ashley 0:29

Definitely. So, my husband and I are getting ready for our first big move. You know, he's getting his master's in two days and he's got a new job. So, we're about to pack up everything, leave this part of the country and enter a new one, which in terms of this podcast, it's relevant because I am already searching for doctors. Because, you know, between just normal everyday medicine that I take, I'm like, oh crap, do I have enough to like last a while once we move up there or am I going to have issues getting into a new physician when I get up there? So, I've already started that search now. So, you know, we were talking about different topics to cover and Melody thought this would be a great one. So, I'm excited to kind of share some of what I've learned so far. And get Melody to share some of her knowledge on this area.

Melody 1:19

That's good points. Big deal. That still be the farthest that you've ever moved away from home. I would call it still home base here. And it is going to be a big difference and it's hard. I know you have some friends that are up there. But even for that, they may not necessarily know doctors. So, you mentioned having to go through the process of finding physicians, tell everybody kind of what you've gone through so far and what's been easy and maybe what's not been easy.

Ashley 1:43

Definitely. I think overall, because I am completely unfamiliar with the area, that's been something, like, I barely know anything about the area I'm moving to where my new house is going to be. So, I don't really know what's out there and of what is out there, you know, what's a good doctor's office. Who are the providers that would be the best fit for me. So, I mean, I've been doing some high level searching so far. It was funny because my insurance provider called me the other day to do some random check-in. I don't even know what it was, to be honest. And she asked if there was anything she could help me with. And I said,"Oh yeah, I'm moving. Could you send me some providers that are in network?" And I think that conversation right there kind of put me in a good place to start in terms of my search because at the end of the day, you got to start looking in network, right?

Melody 2:33

Mm-hmm. Right, right. Now, and that's a good place to start to your point of maybe getting on an insurance portal just to see. I think one thing that, that's really important in the process is because, like you said, moving to a new place, you don't know people, you can pick a doctor and you can go visit them. And if you decide you don't like that doctor, for whatever reason, you're not stuck just going to that doctor. So, you know, making a decision is not a fatal decision. And I think going into it, knowing that you still have other choices is really important. And I know certain parts of the country, people may not have as many choices. But I think when you're going to an area where you do have some flexibility, that should hopefully give a little bit of relief that it's not, you know, an all or nothing type of scenario.

Ashley 3:14

Definitely. I will say one funny thing I kind of came across in this process. Most insurance websites have some sort of find care locator tool. And so, I did start there. And what I typically do, you know, you can put in the specialty. So, I'm starting with primary care, which we can talk about. That should be kind of the first thing you look at. But I'm searching primary care and I'll copy and paste the address into Google Maps or whatever to see where this practice is. And some of them looked like residential houses, which, I mean, there's a whole reason for that that has to do with how an organization's structured with their billing and everything else. But I think hot tip is to make sure you Google any addresses you find to make sure that it's actually a doctor's office and not just a billing office or something like that.

Melody 4:02

That's a good point because, yeah, the other reality is I think we know when you Google things that it helps you identify maybe some things that are not necessarily on the up and up because sometimes physician offices will show up and like to your point, it may not be exactly what you think it is. So, that is a really important piece of it. Well, what are you doing in terms of taking your medical records with you? Are you at the point where you're pulling the information from your existing doctors?

Ashley 4:27

To be honest, I have not gotten that far yet, but it's definitely on my mind. I think within this process versus identifying where I want to get the medical records too. Because a lot of organizations won't, I mean, you can get a copy of your medical records, but it can be a timely, and sometimes I believe they charge you for that. Getting those actual copies and they prefer to send it directly to a provider. So, I'm still kind of in the stage where I'm looking to find the best provider for me, so that way, I can start communicating with my primary care. I will say that over the past couple of months with some of the specialty physicians that I see. I've already kind of given them a heads-up, like,"Hey, I'm moving on this date." And we did have conversations about, okay, if I run out of my medication and I haven't found a new doctor yet, am I able to get those medications filled in a different state? And conversations like that. So, even if someone's not at the point where,"Hey, you know, I think I'm going to pursue going to this practice or this doctor." I think it's good to start initiating those conversations with your current providers so that they're aware and it's not a mad scramble, at the last minute once you're already up there to get records to see a new doctor.

Melody 5:35

That's a good point. And I think the medication issue you brought up is really good too, because I know some medications you can get 90 days where it's some medications you may only be able to get 30 days worth depending on what it is and the specialty and all that. That's a really good point to bring up for people to plan ahead and let the physicians know because, I mean, physicians and their staff will work with you if you let them know what the issue is because you don't want to be stressed out about having to find medications up there. And I don't know, you may have found talking to them, there's certain things you can't do across state lines and they don't necessarily have prescribing rights in other states. And sometimes you can't even do telehealth visits across state lines depending on what it is. And so, there are intricacies that we wouldn't even be able to get into into detail here, but knowing those restrictions I think is really important. So, that's a really good point.

Ashley 6:23

I actually found some interesting information and no secret, I'm an open book. You know, I'm someone with ADHD and I do take stimulants for that. And that's a type of controlled substance medication where it is heavily dictated by state law on, you know, who can prescribe, where can they fill it? And that gets really tricky across state lines. But I was actually talking to a friend, that's going to be a state over, so I'm moving to the northeast, everything's like an hour, between different states. And she actually told me that she is able to obtain her scripts through insurance. Like they will ship it directly to her and because it is controlled, you just have to be there to actually sign for it. But I'm starting to look into the different rules for that because where I live now, it is as strict as you can possibly get. That's something I was worried about because my physician said,"Hey, I'm probably not going to be able to get it filled for you when you move out of state, so you may want to go and look at options now." So, I've really been looking at that. And I think another thing with it being the Northeast and all those states being so close together, I believe the state laws are a little bit more relaxed. I'm still doing research on that. But you know, I'm going to be living 20 minutes from two different state lines. So, it wouldn't surprise me if those rules were a little bit different than where I'm currently at. But I did think that was pretty cool that she said her insurance does that, so I've started looking in to see if mine will do that as well.

Melody 7:48

Yeah. It's interesting your phrasing saying more relaxed. I would argue that it's where your living is more restrictive. You know, and there's certain. And one could argue there's reasons that they do that, doesn't matter for the purposes of what we're talking about. But yeah, there's a lot of variations by state in terms of what some of the restrictions are and different things with it. But no, the medication piece clearly is a really important piece. So, you talked about medical records themselves, you know, having to know who the physician is that's going to go to. Having information around medications and things like that. But just in terms of researching, we mentioned the insurance company's website to see who's in network, maybe doing some Google research. Any other things that you've done? Have you talked to your providers at all to see if they know anyone in that particular area that they could refer you to?

Ashley 8:32

Well, given that I'm in a rural setting now with a very small healthcare network, they don't know anyone where I'm moving to. I've kind of taken two different approaches. I've got a few friends that are kind of in the area and I've asked them more so not at the individual doctor level, like,"Do you know this doctor specifically?" But more so,"Hey, do you know anything about this health system? Do you know anything about this primary care organization to get ideas from there?" The other thing that I've been doing independently is, you know, you can see reviews of doctors and practices online. So, I do look at that a good bit, especially with some of my specialty doctors just to see kind of what other people's thoughts are. The one thing I will caution people with that is take some reviews with a grain of salt. You know, some people just have crazy experiences, and you don't know the full story unless you hear it from both the patient and the doctor. So, if you see one where it's very fifty fifty, maybe it's still good. Maybe it's still good for you just because a provider isn't good for one person doesn't mean they couldn't be a good fit for you. But definitely see what other people are saying and ask around, you know, even if it's not at the doctor level, even the organization, getting an idea on how it operates is a really good idea.

Melody 9:49

I know, that's a really good point. And I really like how you brought out what works for one person may not work for another. And then, part of that comes back to, and I think we talked about this in another episode of what people look for in a doctor varies. I mean, if you want a doctor who's the best at what they do, they may not always have the most warm and fuzzy bedside manner. But you're kind, you're comfortable in what their skillset is. And other ones, may have great bedside manner and people love them. But yet maybe they're not as experienced in certain areas or haven't treated certain conditions as much. And so, I think that's a really good piece to highlight. I think other thing is like you mentioned, asking friends. I think leveraging even family, leveraging social media if people are comfortable with that. You know, a lot of people do Facebook and Instagram and other things. And reaching out to say,"Hey, does anybody know anybody?" And leveraging that because I think word of mouth and having people's individual experiences make a really big difference because that's where I've gotten an awful lot of my specialists from, is talking to people that I respect to say,"Hey, who do you think I should go to or do you know somebody?" So, I think that's a really key thing as well.

Ashley 10:52

Definitely a bit of an unfair advantage we have working in the healthcare industry.

Melody 10:56

That's true.

Ashley 10:56

I have had a lot of people in the industry help me out so far, so I'm lucky in that. Even through LinkedIn, oddly enough, I've gotten some good advice. So, definitely don't be afraid to reach out to even acquaintances. I've learned that people get really excited about where they live and are super willing to help and offer advice.

Melody 11:15

No, that's a good point. It sounds like people from that area really like where you're moving to, so that's always a good thing. A lot of offers to be supportive with that. But yeah, no, LinkedIn is another good example of on the professional side. You know, just asking people to send you messages. And the other thing I'll say is people may have recommendations of physicians and you may choose to follow that, you may not follow it. That's okay, right? People give advice and you can deal with it what you deem best for you and in that situation. So, no, that's good. But it is going to be a big adjustment, move into an area, getting comfortable with the doctors. And I think the other thing I would say is when you look at a place, especially if anyone, you're fortunate enough to be going to a place where there's a lot of healthcare systems, maybe not right there next to you. But within an hour's drive is figuring out what healthcare system you want to be affiliated with because you know, I've mentioned, I live in Atlanta. Atlanta is a very weird market, I'll just say that. In that there's a lot of great healthcare, but it's very segmented. And it depends on what you're having done typically, people deciding where to go. And so, you know, if you're having kids, people typically go to one of a couple of different places. If you're having certain other types of care, again, it's very fragmented, different, where I think in the rest of the country, for the most part, people tend to pick a healthcare system and go get everything done there. Which is a good thing. It's not that Atlanta's bad, that it's just different. But I think finding that healthcare system that you're comfortable with all aspects of care. And then, granted, if you need to go to another specialist, you go to another specialist. But researching them and Googling them and just seeing kind of what their reviews are and what people have as feedback for that, I think is really important too.

Ashley 12:55

It's interesting you say that because I think amongst this search, yes, primary care is a big component. And I think for me right now, that's a big brick wall I have to get past before doing everything else, so that's why I'm stressing about it. But the thing is with specialty physicians, you know, part of me is like, do I want to wait until I find a primary care and see who they recommend?'Cause I've found in the past with some of the, even specialists I have now needing to go to a different specialist, they'll say,"Hey, I know, this guy's the biggest one in town. However, I know this physician and I refer a lot of patients over to them because they specialize in this condition that you have. So, part of me kind of wants to wait to get insight from a doctor that's reviewed my medical records and everything else to see where they would recommend. And, you know, if it's all within one system, that's awesome. That all your records are in one place, they can collaborate, things like that. I don't have that where I currently live. There's nothing even remotely like that. So, I get bills from like five different doctors offices every other month, which can be frustrating. So, I'm glad you kind of mentioned that I didn't think of it that way. It would be really nice to find an organization that's kind of a one-stop shop to just you know, get all of that. But I will say, in addition to that, the primary care thing, I know I'm going to try to schedule before I even get up there. Because I know how long it can take to get an appointment, especially, specialty doctors. So, I may even see if they can do telemedicine. They may not. Sometimes primary cares are a little bit more flexible on that, but just to get the ball rolling, I think I'm definitely going to get that on the calendar as soon as possible.

Melody 14:35

No, that's a really good idea because to your point, it can take weeks, sometimes months to get into a primary care. And you know, I'll just mention, it's primary care and then there's also internal medicine. And there is a little bit of a difference between the two, and sometimes maybe looking at both of those options to see what may make sense. And I will say, sometimes when you go to look, it'll say whether or not people are taking new patients, but if you find a doctor that you really, really like and you have a lot of referrals to them, but it says they're not taking new patients. I would argue to pick up the phone and call them and say,"I know it states you're not taking new patients. However, I've had these recommendations to see you, or X number of people have said. And so, they can sometimes make exceptions, even though they have it listed on the website that someone is not going to be taking new patients."

Ashley 15:20

Ask for the wait list.

Melody 15:22

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And especially in organizations where it is a large organization, I fully anticipate them to have wait lists, that are available for that. So, I think that's important. And as you mentioned, I really like the idea of getting their input of who to go to. Even if they are within the same system, there's you know, if you're going to, I'll just pick make up a specialty, let's say you need a gastroenterologist as an example. And there's 10 gastroenterologists, there's somebody that they may specifically like within that particular group. And or they may ask a lot of different things about your preferences. Do you want a male? Do you want a female? All those things that you know, do you want specific expertise with that? So, now that's a good idea. But yeah, getting scheduled now, makes a lot of sense so that hopefully as you're getting moved and trying to get unpacked, you're not turning around then and going,"Oh no, I need to get to the doctor. And now it's going to take me two months to get in to see somebody."

Ashley 16:11

I know, exactly. And I mean, granted, when I first get up there, there's telemedicine for urgent care kind of stuff if I get a cold or whatever. But I think overall between having so many choices and not knowing about the area. One of the hardest parts of this is actually applying to be a patient at a primary care organization because a lot of them handle it very differently, is how I've learned. Some of them require records upfront, some of them require you fill out a form, some of them don't require anything and you can just full on go. So, it's kind of time consuming as well, you know, if I want to apply to more than one. If I want to test out my options. It's a very time consuming process, which I only have three boxes packed behind me. I don't have a lot of time to spare between everything else, I need to do for this move.

Melody 17:03

Well, it's interesting. I don't know, as you've been looking at it, have you found that where you're moving to that they are requiring you to quote apply to be a patient?

Ashley 17:12

Some of them, yes. It looks like some of the smaller independent clinics do. Whereas the larger organization ones don't. There's also quite a few options that I have not seen since I lived in Atlanta where it's pretty much a practice of nurse practitioners with one quote doctor running the place even though they're not the ones necessarily seeing patients and consults and things like that. So, that's definitely an interesting option because I know from experience it's usually easier to get into nurse practitioners. And at the end of the day, when we're talking primary care, they're pretty much doing the same thing from my end. So, I'm fine with seeing whoever will take me. And, you know, sometimes you do have to be a little bit flexible like that to be seen.

Melody 17:56

That's a good point. I will point out with like nurse practitioners and physician assistants, that is very, very driven at the state level. And that's something just for everybody to be aware of what they can do in one state is different than what they may be able to do in another state. And even states that border one another, it could be very, very different. So, it is very state specific. There's some guidelines around supervision and things like that that apply at the national level, but the state specific pieces of it sounds like for where you're moving, there's a lot more flexibility in terms of what their scope of practice is within that state and which enables more providers. Which can be a really good thing and to your point, make it easier. I think the one thing I'll always add, and I mentioned this in a previous episode of Take Care was know where you're going to get emergency care, and hopefully you never need it. But find out not only what's close to where you're going to live, but is it a good place to go? Would there be any reason that you wouldn't want to go there and you'd want to go to a different hospital and just doing some of that research is really important as well. Because I would not want, you know, you guys to be unloading boxes and drop something on your finger and break a finger or break a toe. And then you're like,"Oh no, I have to go to the emergency room and I got to research where to go.

Ashley 19:05

That's funny you think I'm going to be picking up boxes.

Melody 19:08

That's true.

Ashley 19:09

But I am glad you said that because I honestly didn't even think about that. That was not on my radar at all. So, I'm definitely going to look at that as a part of this search.

Melody 19:18

Well, you got to because as we know, when you're stressed out and something happens in an emergency situation, you don't want to have to be thinking about, oh no, you know, again, and you want to be pre-armed with the information and with the data for sure, for sure. Well, I think, you know, it's a lot of things to take into consideration. You've mentioned, again, researching doctors in advance. I like where you talked about hitting primary care. And I'm going to say slash internal medicine, finding that doctor, identifying your other specialists, coordinating with them, making sure your records are getting communicated to them. And that may be a process to your point. I will also add a comment as a reminder to everybody, your medical records are owned by the patient. So, you as a patient, those are your medical records and you are legally allowed to get those medical records. Typically, they won't charge you if they're sending it to a provider directly, like you mentioned. Sometimes they will charge. But I will say there are some rules around that and they're not technically supposed to charge you to give you a copy. Now, if you want additional copies or if they want forms filled out, that's when they typically see them charging additional things. I see that a lot with OBGYN and with workers' comp and some of that kind of stuff. But yeah, get copies of your records at the appropriate time, make sure that you have all that information taken into account what you need to do with medications. And I'm sure there'll be other things that may come up along the way. I think it's good to have that list and I'm not thrilled about you moving as far away as you're moving, but I'm very happy, for you and John to be going into this next chapter of life. And I know you're well equipped to handle everything, not only personally, professionally, and also on the medical front as well. So, great advice. Any final words that you want to share with everybody as you're about to take this big leap?

Ashley 21:03

I think main thing is it's never too early to get started with all this because even now looking at the calendar, I'm more behind than I would like to be. I ideally would like to already have that first appointment, but you know, it is what it is. I can just keep moving along, but just start earlier than you think you need to.

Melody 21:22

Well, and I'll add this one other piece on that as well, just because people may be listening to this at different times, but as we're recording this, it's graduation time as you mentioned. There's a lot of people that are graduating, whether it's undergrad, grad school, whatever, that are going to be moving. And getting their first job somewhere and a lot of people are going to be going through this process. So, even if you're just graduating from college and you're thinking,"Well, I don't really have a doctor. I don't need a doctor." We would argue you should be thinking about this as well and do it when you're healthy, even before a situation comes up. So, great time of year to think about all those pieces of it.

Ashley 21:59

Welcome to adulthood.

Melody 22:01

Exactly. That's true. Yes, exactly. Well, adulting is hard, as we say, right? All right. Well, thank you, Ashley, for coming on for another Take Care Together. It is always a pleasure to spend time with you on the podcast. And thank you everybody for being with us. Until next time, take care.