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What Do You Expect From Your PCP? 

I take back anything bad I said about my new Primary Care Physician (PCP). In past articles, I discussed how my long-time PCP retired. And he referred me to his co-worker, a much younger and less experienced PCP. And I was not so impressed at first.

What do I expect from my PCP?

I do not judge a PCP on talent. I do not judge a PCP on how much he knows about asthma. First and foremost, I judge a PCP on how approachable they are. If my PCP is a nice guy, then chances are he’s a good doctor in my book.

So, my new PCP meets these criteria. He is a swell guy. After all, he was nice to my daughter by paying her well when she babysat his kids. He even impressed her by giving her a ride in his new Tesla. So he’s a good guy.

He’s nice to me, too. He does a great job of refilling my prescriptions when I need them and doing so in a timely manner. When I have ideas to try new medicines, he has agreed with me 100% of the time. This is what I like in a doctor, a PCP.

Truthfully, the only thing I need a PCP for, as far as my asthma is concerned, is to write prescriptions. I already know what I want and what I need. I need Symbicort. I need Singulair. And I need some prednisone pills on standby for when I need them. All my PCP has to do is write the prescriptions. I do all the other work for him.

He can manage my other conditions however he wants. But when it comes to my asthma, I know my asthma best. I know what I need to maintain good asthma control. And I know what I need to do to get back on track when it flares up.

Do I like my current doctor?

Well, I was not sure at first. Yes, he is a swell guy. We have determined that. He is very approachable. But, for the past two years, he has rejected my request for prednisone at home. And I seriously thought about firing him just on this ground alone. This is very important to me.

He said that I need to call his office if I need this type of medicine. And I argued that his office is never available when I need to be seen. Likewise, if I have prednisone at home, I do not need to pay a $40 copay to see him when he is just going to write the prescription for what I already know I need. How silly is that?

Or, if he is not in the office, such as if he is on vacation or it is the weekend, I will need to pay $80 to go to a clinic, or $800 to go to an emergency room, just to get the same medicine I already know I need. Sorry, but this is not necessary.

So, this is what I have dealt with the past two years of having this doctor. This past week, I returned to my new PCP. He literally caved and wrote me a prescription for prednisone for 5 days. And, since he said yes to this, I asked if I can also have a prescription for a Z-pac. And he said yes to that, too. I got everything I wanted. And this made me a happy asthmatic patient.

I may not need those two prescriptions. I hope I do not need them. But knowing they are there in my medicine cabinet reduces my stress level by a lot.

What do you expect from a PCP managing your asthma?

It took a couple of years, but I have decided I like my new PCP. He is actually not so new anymore. But he is a keeper. He treats me well. He's a nice guy. He respects me.

What about you? What do you expect from your PCP? Please let us know in the comments below.

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This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The Asthma.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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