Why I’m leaving a hospital-owned PCP

Four years ago, I moved my family from Buffalo, New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. To say that it was a huge undertaking would be putting it very mildly. We had to change everything that we’ve ever done. We had to make new friends, find a new grocery store (God, I miss Wegmans — my fellow Northeasterners can relate), we had to find new day cares, and, most importantly get all new doctors.

Almost all our decisions regarding these new things were made based off of referrals from my sister, who already lived in Charlotte. I would imagine most people use a similar method. Naturally, we originally chose to go to a pediatrician that my niece and nephew were already going to. But right from the get go, I didn’t totally love the practice. It was enormous, with 15+ doctors, and I felt like even after the doctor had seen my child four or five times she would still come in and introduce herself as if it was their first encounter. My son had a lot of health issues early on, so I opted to go to a smaller practice in order to have a more intimate relationship with the doctor.