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You take care of yourself.
But sometimes you need to find a doctor.
That's why Physician Compare is here for you.
Welcome to Physician Compare,
a website created by the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.
All physicians and other clinicians listed
on Physician Compare take part in Medicare.
And there are three different ways to find
the information you need.
Let's take a look at how Linda, Mary, and Don
use the Physician Compare website
to select their doctors.
Linda is a Medicare patient looking for
a new primary care physician in her area.
She lives in Crest Hill, Illinois.
The location box automatically
recognized the location of her computer,
and Crest Hill, Illinois is filled in for her.
Linda enters "Primary Care Physician"
into the main search bar.
The drop-down box gives a few options
for what she may be searching for.
She makes a choice from the drop-down box
based on her needs.
Here is the results page of physicians who practice
internal medicine in Linda's area.
Physicians are listed on the left of the page
in order of distance from Linda's location.
She can pick from either
a group or an individual clinician.
The map on the right has pins to show practice locations.
Linda's current location is shown with a blue pin.
Linda can use the filters across the top of the screen
to refine this list of physicians based on
distance, Medicare approved payment amount, gender,
and more.
She can use the "Add to compare" button on a listing
to compare as many as three different physicians
or three different groups.
These two icons indicate that this physician accepts the
Medicare approved payment amount
and has performance information available to view.
Performance information shows whether the doctor
provided patients the recommended care.
Now let's see how Mary uses Physician Compare.
Mary's current neurologist wants her to get a second opinion for
her constant migraines.
Mary and her caregiver Nancy visit the Physician Compare
website and begin their search for a clinician.
They find the "Search by body part" button.
Mary clicks on the diagram of a woman's body.
They can pick the area of the body they're concerned about.
Mary chooses "Head" from the list of
available body parts on the right
and then selects the "Next" button.
She then selects "Headache/Migraine"
from the list of health topics.
She selects "Neurology" from the list of specialties.
Mary is redirected to the results page.
She and Nancy select a group from the list.
Nancy has a friend who told her she got great care there.
They read about Medicare approved payment amounts,
affiliated clinicians,
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and performance information
and decide this group would be a good fit for her.
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Finally, let's see how Don uses Physician Compare.
Don's Primary Care Physician wants him to see a cardiologist
for some chest pain he's been having recently.
He's having difficulty spelling cardiologist.
But then he sees the "Browse by specialty" button.
Don selects the letter "C" at the top of the page
and it automatically takes him to all specialties
beginning with the letter "C".
As he goes to pick Cardiology,
he sees that when he hovers over each term,
a definition appears to explain what the specialty is.
Don selects "Cardiology" and is redirected to the results page
where he sees a list of available cardiologists
in his area.
He chooses a group.
He notices that this group accepts
Medicare approved payment amounts
and has performance information available.
Don also sees that this group has
"Patient survey scores".
He chooses the tab.
These scores are based on information
patients reported about their experiences
getting care from the group.
Based on the feedback,
Don decides this would be a good group for him to visit.
He's glad this website was able to provide him with
vital information so he could make an informed decision
to improve his health.
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Quality health care is important for everyone.
The Physician Compare website is one of many ways CMS
is working to help you make informed decisions
about your health care.
Explore the resources available to you
on Physician Compare today.
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