How to Check on a Doctor for Free

Before trusting your health or the health of your family to a physician, ensure that she follows good medical practices. Fortunately, many resources are available free of cost to safeguard you against unscrupulous doctors. A few simple fact-checking exercises will help you make the right decision after compiling a list of doctors you are considering.

Things You'll Need

• List of prospective doctors

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Instructions

• 1

  Visit the website of your state medical board. This organization will provide free information on any licensed doctor in the state, which may include any formal accusation of wrongdoing, disciplinary actions taken against him by the board, convictions or malpractice suits. Each state has its own disclosure policies and may not display information you might consider red flags, such as complaints made to the Medical Board or old misdemeanor convictions.

• 2

  Visit the American Board of Medical Specialties at http://www.abms.org. Certification by the Board means the doctor has completed a residency program approved by the organization and has submitted to extensive oral and written examinations in her chosen specialty field. This website provides free information on whether an M.D. is board certified, though you must register in order to gain information. After doing so, log in, click "Is Your Doctor Certified?" and type the name of the physician in question.

• 3

  Go to http://www.healthgrades.com. This website provides a comprehensive list of facts about a doctor, including how long he has been practicing after graduating medical school, accepted insurance plans and the states in which the doctor is licensed to practice.

• 4

  Check user-generated reviews of physicians by visiting free aggregate review websites such as http://www.ratemds.com. While these websites may be useful, they are not a failsafe way to determine whether a doctor follows good medical practices because people can write whatever they want about an individual and facts are not verified. While you should take these reviews with a grain of salt, consistent negative remarks may be an indication that something is indeed wrong, especially if other more-reliable websites have also thrown up red flags.

• 5

  Visit the doctor's website or the website of the practice she is affiliated with, if one is available. This resource will often list policies and accepted insurance plans, and will provide some background information on the doctor, including where she attained her medical degree and places of previous employment. Eliminate any doctors that provide information on their websites that conflict with the verified facts you obtained from http://www.abms.org or your state's medical board. Follow up on any other inconstancies by calling the doctor directly and asking for an explanation of the discrepancy.