Is there a doctor in the house?

April 21, 2013 12:22 PM

I'm looking for a good primary care doctor in New Haven, CT who accepts United Healthcare insurance. I'm also okay with driving a short distance outside of New Haven. I need someone who does not have a long waiting period to schedule appointments for new patients. Do you know of anyone, or do you know of a good way to decide which of the thousands of doctors on the internet are any good (healthgrades.com was decidedly unhelpful)?
posted by cheerwine to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Make a list of a few likely candidates that accept UHC then ask around your circle of friends or even another doctor if you are seeing a specialist for recommendations.
posted by COD at 12:32 PM on April 21, 2013

Response by poster: Oh, right, I forgot to mention: I am new to the area and none of my friends or coworkers have a doctor in New Haven (most of them live in Hartford, which is too far away). Neither my girlfriend nor I are currently seeing any doctors or specialists.
posted by cheerwine at 12:50 PM on April 21, 2013

Have you checked with YaleHealth?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:30 PM on April 21, 2013

Yale Health is for members only, unfortunately.
posted by reren at 1:31 PM on April 21, 2013

The way I have approached this is to look at the list of doctors accepting new patients in the area which would be most convenient for me to see them (usually near work).

You don't mention a chronic condition, special needs, of particular temperament you require in a physician, so most anyone who does not pull up any red flags with whom you can make a relatively near-term appointment with should be fine. This has always worked for me.
posted by deanc at 2:01 PM on April 21, 2013

No local information, but I find vitals.com to be better than healthgrades -- there are narrative reviews and they're more honest. Also ratemd.com, for the same reasons. In general, as an adult, I have found that board certified Internal Medicine docs are the best primary care doctors. YMMV.

You also want to make sure the doc you choose is associated with your preferred hospital system. I had to change when I started to need specialists and hospital care because my otherwise excellent primary care doctor was in with the wrong hospital system here.
posted by sweltering at 2:19 PM on April 21, 2013

I'd recommend Dr Mann @ Whitney Internal Medicine in Hamden. They take UHC according to the UHC website.

Connecticut Magazine just released their list of Top Doctors in CT for 2013, so there's probably some good options in there too.

We pretty much only have one hospital system in New Haven so pretty much anybody in the area will be affiliated with YNHH in some way.
posted by reptile at 6:06 PM on April 21, 2013

I suggest looking in Hamden, which is right next to New Haven; it's more suburban so parking isn't as much a problem, and there are plenty of providers there, including some on CT Magazine's recently released best of who my friends see (I use one 45 minutes away so out of your range.)

The hospital system here is a choice of Yale-New Haven or going far north enough to be in Hartford territory, so don't worry about that part.
posted by cobaltnine at 6:07 PM on April 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I try to narrow my search on the insurance doctor search as much as possible. For example I (2nding sweltering) look for Internal Medicine specialists who are female and if that's still to large a result I start to really whiddle down based on distance from home and work.
posted by WeekendJen at 11:22 AM on April 22, 2013