Five stars, would get cooter inspected again!

May 30, 2006 9:47 AM

Where do I find a good gynecologist in the Baltimore area that's covered by my insurance? There aren't any rating websites, are there? That would be weird, but cool. There is

My previous gynecologist was part of the health center at my college. Now that I'm not currently attending that college I needed to get a new one. I picked someone from my PPO list who was within reasonable distance and had appointments open within the next two months. He is bad. Wow, he is bad. Without the details, just trust me, he's pretty bad. I'm fairly tough-skinned so I can put up with him if need be, but if my snatch was getting prodded by someone who seemed slightly more knowledgeable and slightly less like an asshole that might be nice.

But what do I do next? Another blind guess? I can't get recommendations, since the only women I know in the area are college students and either don't get OB-GYN exams, get them at the college health center, or get them at home. There must be a better way . . . mustn't there? Or do any MeFites have recomendations that I could check against the PPO list?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has a web site where you can look up OB-GYNs in a particular area. A search for Baltimore found several screens of doctors in the area, some of whom have their own pages listing where they're located and whether or not they're accepting new patients.

If you have a name and want more information, you can also look them up in the Maryland Board of Physicians, which well tell you if they're licensed, where they got their MD and what year.

Good luck.
posted by mogget at 10:09 AM on May 30, 2006

Baltimore magazine has a list of Top Doctors. Not sure if any of them are covered by your insurance or not though.
posted by electroboy at 10:32 AM on May 30, 2006

Does Baltimore magazine do a Best Doctors issue the way that Washingtonian and Philadelphia mags do? I'd recommend checking that out.
posted by wildeepdotorg at 10:32 AM on May 30, 2006

Best answer: The two people I've seen in the Baltimore area are Dr. Endrika Hinton (who is on the list of Baltimore's Top Doctors that electroboy linked to) and Kathy Slone, who is a nurse-midwife rather than a gynecologist but also does annual exams and whatnot.

I can't really comment on their medical expertise since I've never had any complications, but both had excellent bedside manner and seemed intelligent and helpful.

I also found plain googling to be useful--I found a few names of doctors on my insurance's PPO list but discarded two names 'cause one person mentioned in an interview how incredibly overworked she was (I'd rather not get advice from someone going on four hours of sleep) and the other was quoted someplace saying that she thinks all women should be on birth control pills constantly because menstruation is too inconvenient (which just seemed a little too wacky for me). Unfortunately I can't remember those doctors' names.
posted by needs more cowbell at 11:06 AM on May 30, 2006

Why not ask your former doc at the school?
Odds are they've had many patients leave their care for the same reason, and may have a few people they recommend. Who knows, they may even have a doc or two who splits their time between the college clinic and another practice.
posted by Kellydamnit at 11:08 AM on May 30, 2006

Planned Parenthood clinics often will do routine gynecological exams, and I wouldn't expect anyone to last long there if they had significant problems with bedside manner. Here they're very careful to give you extensive information on birth control options and STDs, but they don't get pushy about anything. They might also be able to refer you to a private practice.
posted by dilettante at 12:58 PM on May 30, 2006

I wish I was closer to Baltimore (I'm in Howard County and have had good luck with my OB/GYN, Contemporary Health for Women in Clarksville). I wanted to suggest that, if all else fails, you could solicit suggestions from a local message board like The Nest -- the link is to their Baltimore board. The site is technically geared toward newlyweds, but if you do a quick, free registration you can easily post questions about virtually any topic. And, like any recommendations you get, you can take them or leave them, but someone might offer something that sounds promising.
posted by justonegirl at 8:01 PM on May 30, 2006

My uncle is a OB/GYN in Baltimore...while he's not in general practice, I can ask him for a recommendation if you'd like. Just email me.
posted by youcancallmeal at 9:04 PM on May 30, 2006

Checkbook.org is a sort of regional Consumer Reports, and I just checked and they do have ranked ratings for 17 OB/GYNs in Baltimore based on how many times their names came up as recommendations from other doctors in the area.

You would have to punch the names of doctors into your insurer's site to check on plan participation. I did exactly this for one of the two orthopedists I saw recently, and the one that was well regarded by Checkbook was a real winner, while the one recommended by an acquaintance botched the diagnosis and the billing, grr. Made me a believer in Checkbook's doctor info.

Checkbook.org is not free! There's a meaningful charge (I think I did all options for 4 years for $70). I've been more than satisfied with it's ratings of plumbers, exterminators, doctors and so on. And I can be cheap, so it surprises me to be so happy with having spent that money.

Finally, I've noticed that lots of service outfits definitely pay attention when you mention that you got their name from Checkbook.org. Many are transparently eager to maintain a good rating on the site.
posted by NortonDC at 9:35 PM on May 30, 2006