With so many primary care options, which provider should you choose?

Spring, the season of fresh starts is here. If you haven't been in for a check-up lately, now is a great time to schedule a primary care visit. And if spring allergies are affecting your nose and eyes, same-day appointments might even be available.

If you’re looking for a primary care provider, you might be unsure where to go or who to see.

Primary care providers are the ones you visit for regular check-ups and preventive care like screenings and vaccines. They might be your first call if you are sick or injured. Your primary care provider can also refer you to a specialist if you need specialty care for your skin, heart, or gastrointestinal system, for example.

“Primary care is your trusted health advisor, helping watch for preventive needs as well as making sure chronic diseases or new problems are addressed,” said Kim DeRoche, MD, a family medicine physician and chief of primary care at M Health Fairview. We've assembled a helpful guide to choosing a primary care provider. If you'd like to schedule a primary care appointment with M Health Fairview, click here.

Who provides primary care?

Primary care providers are often, but not always, doctors from one of several medical specialties. Here are the primary care specialties:

• Family medicine providers see patients of any age. The whole family, from babies to great-grandparents, might see the same family medicine provider. Family medicine providers also care for people who are pregnant and deliver babies. There is even a type of doctor, called a family medicine obstetric physician, or FMOB, who specializes in both primary care and pregnancy care. This is not to be confused with an obstetrician/gynecologist, a specialist focused on female reproductive health, pregnancy, and childbirth.
  
  
• Internal medicine providers see adults. They provide health screenings and treat common adult concerns like diabetes and high blood pressure. They also provide gynecology care, but not obstetrics.
  
  
• Pediatrics is primary care for children. They are experts in child development and care for and treat children from birth up to age 21. Learn more about our comprehensive pediatric care.

Know that regardless of the path of training a healthcare provider takes, they all meet strict licensing standards and are well-qualified to care for you. "People should feel confident that anyone in these disciplines can help them with their primary care needs,” DeRoche said. “And then if they have, or develop more complex medical needs, then can certainly be referred, even amongst the primary care team, to someone who may be able to help them meet their needs.” 

View our list of primary care providers.

DO or MD?
Once you’ve decided on what specialty is right for you, you might see a list of providers’ names with different credentials after them, like 'DO' or 'MD.' These are both types of doctors. DO stands for Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. MD is a Doctor of Medicine. The education and approach are a little bit different, but they are held to the same licensing standards and can enter any field of medicine. They share the same rights and responsibilities for patient care. 

Advance practice providers

Doctors aren't the only people providing primary care. Advanced practice providers (APPs) at M Health Fairview are a group of non-physician medical providers. The group includes physician assistants and nurse practitioners. While their training is shorter than medical school, APPs provide many of the same services as doctors, so their presence helps increase access to care. The advance practice providers:

Both professions are flexible and can go where they’re needed to help meet the demands for healthcare. They must meet rigorous certification requirements, code of ethics standards, and continuous learning requirements. No matter whether you're seeing a doctor or an advance practice provider, you can expect a high standard of care. “All professions work together as collaborative teams, so if anyone feels like one of their colleagues has expertise, we want to leverage that for the advantage of patient care,” said Leslie Clayton, PA-C, and program director for Advanced Provider Practice at M Health Fairview.

Physician assistant

PA-C stands for physician assistant-certified. Like physicians, PA-Cs take a more medical approach to treatment and diagnosis. The physician assistant training program is similar to a physician’s medical school training, but it’s at the graduate level. PA-Cs are trained as generalists. As part of their training, they do rotations in all areas of medicine. They can choose to work in primary care – or any other area of medicine.

Advanced practice registered nurse

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) include nurse practitioners (NP). They are registered nurses who pursue additional training. They work in all areas of medicine, but typically choose their specialty area while still in school. APRNs are independently licensed and collaborate with other healthcare professionals.

Nurse midwives

Nurse midwives provide primary care to women—regardless of pregnancy plans. Nurse midwives tend to take a holistic approach to care and focus on preserving a person’s health rather than treating illness. Nurse midwives do annual well-woman exams. Their patients are usually menstruating women, as young as 11 and up to age 65.

If you have a medical condition

If you’re managing a health condition like rheumatoid arthritis or cystic fibrosis, you might see your specialist more often than your primary care provider. But it’s still important to have a yearly check-up with a primary care provider. Specialists might not be thinking about primary care needs like a flu shot, cholesterol test, or colonoscopy.

Working with your primary care provider

Once you have a primary care provider, know that you can reach out to them as issues come up. DeRoche encourages patients to use the electronic tools available. For example, you can use your M Health Fairview app and MyChart to send messages to your provider, schedule visits, and even have telehealth visits.

Other considerations

When choosing a primary care provider, first check that they’re accepting new patients. You can see this when you search for a provider on our website. From there, look for a primary care who feels like a good fit for you. You might consider:

Finally, trust your gut. We want you to feel good about the provider you choose. Every provider has their own style. If you don’t feel like one is the right fit for you, it’s OK to try another.