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Locating Health Care Professionals on the Web

If you have recently moved to a new location, one of the first priorities is locating doctors, dentists, and other health care professionals that are convenient to your new residence and/or work. In addition, you also might need some background information about their training and specializations.

Listed below are a number of reliable and authoritative Web sites which offer information on physicians, dentists, hospitals, health organizations, medical specialties, and specialty treatment centers.

How to Choose A Doctor (http://www.docboard.org/md/DOCTOR.HTM)

This very informative article is listed first because it contains a step by step plan for locating a doctor, and by extension almost any health care professional. There is one slightly obscure reference to the Board of Physician Quality Assurance; this refers to the state of Maryland. The general recommendation is to call the medical board in your state. This site also includes links to several state medical boards. The search capabilities vary from state to state. See the Texas site listed below.
 

AMA Physician Select (http://www.ama-assn.org/aps/amahg.htm)

This site is the online equivalent of the American Medical Association's Directory of Physicians in the United States (also called The American Medical Directory, located in the Library's Ready Reference collection under W 22.AA1 A512d). Both print and online versions of this directory include AMA and non-AMA members. Physician Select includes the physician's phone number (not included in the print version), as well as address, specialty, and training information. An impediment to use is the requirement that the state must be included in the search. The print version does not have this limitation.
 

American Board of Medical Specialties (http://www.abms.org/)

When you need to know if a physician is board certified in a specialty, this is the place to go. In addition, you will also learn about a physician's training, address and telephone number. You can search by specialty and limit it to a state. There is a print version of this Web site (The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialties located on Ready Reference W 22.AA1 D598 2000), which is friendlier and is more complete. The ABMS states that only physicians who have subscribed to this service are listed here, but you can verify if a physician is board certified by clicking on "Verification Service." The print publication lists all board certified physicians.
 

4Anything (http://www.4anything.com/)

4Anything is a network of Web sites that help users find online information on a large number of topics, including health and fitness which has a nice page of links about diseases, health aids, beauty, and full-text guides on selected topics, like health insurance and over-the-counter medications. In order to look at directories or Web guides, simply attach the number 4, followed by a topic/subject to the URL. If you want hospital sites, the URL is typed http://4hospitals.4anything.com/. Cancer information is listed at http://4cancer.4anything.com/. 4Anything claims to have registered about 4,500 domain names beginning with the number 4. Have fun with this one.
 

MedlinePlus Health Information (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MedlinePlus/directories.html)

You know this site is reliable and authoritative because it comes from the National Library of Medicine, who also produce MEDLINE. MedlinePlus is a database especially for patients and other consumers. The directories include such sites as American Dental Directory, AMA Physician Select, Certified Doctor Service (see ABMS above), and a nice listing of hospitals and other health facilities.
 

MEDavenue (http://www.medavenue.com/)

A nice site providing a U.S. map that you click on. The only requirement is providing a state and choosing a specialty; names, addresses, Zip Codes, and cities are optional choices. UTHSCSA faculty seem to be listed in many specialty areas.
 

Open Directory Project (http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Medicine/Directories/)

The Open Directory Project attempts to provide a comprehensive directory to the Web. The directories cover such topics as AIDS, cosmetic and plastic surgery, doctors, dentists, mental health, and ophthalmology. The listings under each topic, while not exhaustive, do make an attempt to lead users to resourceful sites. The creators of Open Directory are compiling this directory through volunteers. If you would like to contribute some free time, they are looking for editors.
 

Texas Medical Association (http://www.texmed.org/)

Texas Medical Association's site specifically targets its member physicians, and as such, provides resources and links accessible only by its members through an ID and password. There are some notable exceptions, such as the Library and patient information in the form of Radio Spots which have previously aired. "Find A Physician" is a simple, searchable resource for locating member physicians. One can search by last name, city, specialty, county medical society, and some combinations of these. The information given for each physician is very limited, consisting of name, medical school attended, year of graduation, office address(s), phone and fax numbers.
 

Texas Medical Board (http://www.tmb.state.tx.us/)

This site should probably be the first stop in looking for a physician in Texas. All physicians licensed to practice in Texas are listed here. In addition to information about rules and laws, information for consumers, licensees and applicants, and information about the boards, including calendards, agendas and minutes, the Physician Profile is what is pertinent here. The link to begin a search is http://reg.tmb.state.tx.us/OnLineVerif/Phys_NoticeVerif.asp? or, from the home page go to Services for Consumers...Find Your Physician. There is also a Health-Care Entity search, which requires registration as a licensed hospital, HMO, group practice, etc., as defined by the Texas Medical Practice Act. The site includes a statistics section, with demographics on physicians, physician assistants, acupuncturists, and non-certified radiological technicians. Other statistical reports include enforcement and overall agency statistics.
 

Top 10 Links (http://www.top10links/Health/Directories/)

The name of the site tells what this is all about. For each category and its dozens of links, there are only 10 top sites listed. However, there are over a thousand categories and sub-categories from which to choose. Of course, this is extremely exclusive and maybe subjective, but it certainly cuts down on search time.

The following sites are included not because they are necessarily authoritative or complete, but because you may find links to them when using the sites listed above. Included in the brief description are some reasons why you might not want to use these sites.

Best Doctors (http://www.bestdoctors.com/en/docfinder/fullsearch/find.asp)

This site works in partnership with the next site listed, DoctorDirectory. Through the use of "extensive surveys" only the best doctors in various specialties are listed here. A referral is provided on two levels: 1) consumers can search by specialty in a geographic area, for $25.00/search; 2) AcuMatch assigns you to a personal medical case manager who determines what kind of doctor your unique problem needs. The price of this service is $975.00. There is also a search service to verify physicians' credentials, including disciplinary actions, for $9.95. This is a fee-for-service site and while it may be useful in solving some medical referral problems, it is not for the casual user. While there are some San Antonio physicians listed, there are almost no listings for UTHSCSA faculty.
 

DoctorDirectory.com (http://www.doctordirectory.com/)

This site includes not only directories of physicians, but also hospitals, medical schools and some specialty clinics. Searching is straightforward, beginning with a choice of specialties, then geographic down to a state and city. Clicking on a doctor's name will give address and phone number and include some brief facts, such as medical school graduation date and a map to the office. Physicians pay a "minimum fee" to be listed in this site. There are some San Antonio physicians, but almost no UTHSCSA faculty are included.
 

Medical Resources USA (http://www.medicalresourcesusa.com/)

This is an online guide for international patients to hospitals, health clinics and medical practices in the U.S. This list is not comprehensive, but since the emphasis is on non-U.S. patients, those hospitals, doctors, and related resources featured have indicated an interest in working with international patients. There are a few San Antonio hospitals and physicians listed. Just keep in mind that the emphasis is the non-United States patient.
 

Yahoo! Health (http://health.yahoo.com/health/find_a_doctor/index.html)

Ever resourceful Yahoo includes a nice search engine to locate physicians either by city and state or by Zip Code. Yahoo claims to include office-based practicing physicians in 145 U.S. metropolitan areas. Although there are no physicians listed for University Health System, there are a number of physicians from San Antonio and the surrounding area listed. It is still a nice and useful site.