Schambo1

I moved to New Jersey, USA from England on Sunday with my husband and 2 children. I am conscious that I need to arrange for full medical examinations for both of my children in order for them to be able to register at school. Can anyone please give me an idea of how to go about this? Should I ask around and get a list of local doctors / will we be automatically eligible to register with a particular doctor due to our ZIP code? Would appreciate your help as I truly have no idea and do not have a lot of time before I need to enrol the kids at school. Thanks in advance.

Rete

Are you and the children US Citizens? If not then you must have had to get a visa of some sort in order to live in the US. Getting the visa is contingent with a full medical by a panel physician to be sent to the US Consulate. That medical examination also included a list of all vaccinations that each of the children have had.

Schools require that children have certain vaccinations before enrolling. If they are up-to-date on the vaccinations then they do not need to see a doctor and you only need to give the school administration a copy of their vaccination report obtained at your physical in the UK.

If they need some vaccinations that they do not give in the UK to children, then you need to have them seen by a pediatrian <?> to obtain those shots.

You can obtain the name of one through a referral by your health insurance company who often times have a website which gives the names of doctors who are in network listed by their specialty. Or go to citydata and see if anyone in that town has a referral.

Unlike in the UK you do not have to register per se but call the office and see if the doctor is taking new patients. You can go to any doctor you wish to as long as you can afford to pay them and/or your insurance has designated them as an in network physician.

HartleyHare

Hi there,

We have also moved to NJ from the UK about 7 weeks ago We have a 12 yr old that also needs the physical etc. before starting school. We are moving this weekend after staying in Jersey City for the last few weeks, so I have yet to arrange anything.

Our insurance policy allows me to search online (via their website) to find a local doctor within our policy network. I am looking for a "family practice" rather than a paediatric doctor as I will need to go too. Once I have found someone local I will call them to double check that they accept our policy and then make the appointment for the physical and missing vaccinations. I use the same search facility for the dentist, but we did not take the optical cover so I will just sort this and pay myself. On our policy the physical and any vaccinations for DD are free, but I will have to pay for the treatments that I need as we have not spent our deductible yet.

That's how I'm going about it and if this is wrong hopefully someone will point us both in the right direction


Welcome to NJ!

Bluegrass Lass

The limitation on selecting a doctor, in your case possibly a pediatrician, is only limited by your insurance company, assuming your have insurance. if you go to your insurance company's website, you can usually do a search to find the type of doctor you want. Then start calling those dr's on the list to see who is accepting new patients. You can also use Google to find reviews of doctors to see if there's anything negative on them. But that's it. There's no registration required (you fill in tons of paperwork when you show up for the 1st appointment), and you aren't limited by zip code in any way.

HartleyHare

We are here on an L1/L2 visas and there is no requirement to have had a medical in the UK prior to arrival. I thought this only applied to Green Card applicants?

Noorah101

It applies to Immigrant Visa applications and some Non-Immigrant Visa applicants (such as K-1).

Yes, you are going about finding a doctor the right way.

Rene

HartleyHare

Phew!

Speedwell

Just something that might make it a bit easier... My "doctor" is actually a huge clinic with dozens of doctors. I have a main doctor for ongoing issues, but if I have an urgent issue and my main doctor is unavailable, or if I need a specialist like someone in OB-GYN or ophthalmology, there are doctors in the clinic who I can get scheduled for as soon as there is an opening. If there is such a clinic in your area (mine is Kelsey-Seybold in Houston), it is a good option.

Also a caution... your doctor might be in your insurance network, but in case you need to be hospitalized, your hospital will also need to be in-network unless you are prepared to pay significantly more. In serious emergencies where just need to get rushed to the nearest hospital, sometimes the insurance companies will work with you and pay as if the hospital is in-network, but it's up to them. The best thing to do before scheduling surgery or a hospital stay is just to ask your doctor where he has admitting privileges, and find out whether each member of your hospital team (doctor, surgeon if different, anesthesiologist, etc.) will be in or out of network.

SanDiegogirl

You need to refer to your medical insurance coverage and find out via their "doctor search" -either on their website or by calling them - which doctors in your area are in network with your insurance company.

Unlike the UK where you go to the doctor who is in your geographical area, in the US you go to a doctor who is in your network - otherwise you end up paying larger fees than necessary.

kins

My kids are registered with a pediatric practice that's different to the one I go to - that works pretty well for us. You're definitely doing the right thing checking they are in-network. Also they need to have space on their books for new patients.

Bob

If you've got insurance, chance are, their website will list doctors in your area who are in network and the specialty, pick whoever is taking new patient's, based on recommendations and online reviews.

Kids doctor v family doctor, depends on the state, some don't allow them to be the same and in other states, they are often different anyway, but it's handy finding one that is in a practice that is tied to a good and local hospital.

MsElui

When we same over we asked several of my husbands colleagues who they used for pediatrics as they would have been on the same insurance, and they all highly recommended the same place. I tried to register at a general doctor for myself but I effectively could not until I wanted an appt. so I went without any doc for several years until I needed to be seen for something. Then again I asked around people on the same insurance as me and got recommendations.

HartleyHare

Thanks for this info. I was going to ask, why do parents in the US tend to have one doctor for the adults and a paediatrician for the children? As you know, in the UK the GP does the lot and I was assuming that a family practice would see all if us if needs be. My daughter just needs the physical & some vaccinations for school.

Gillymonkey

As far as my understanding goes family doctor's over here are not as 'good' or knowledgable as GP's are at home. They seem to refer to specialists a lot more whereas for some things a GP at home would just treat you. Eg. when I moved over, I went to my new family doctor with my full medical records and current prescription. She actually said to me she knew little about my condition (quite a common one too) so would have to refer me. At least she was honest enough to admit this but it was never something I came across in the UK.

I am due my first baby in 4 weeks time and am making sure to get a peadiatrician rather than our regular family doctor for this reason,

penguinsix

We have a general guide to health insurance and doctors here:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Health_Insurance