How to find best Endo / Experts in your area?

I see posts of people either complaining about their doctor (not understanding of LADA or listening) and others of people saying how amazing their doctor is in a post. I’m just curious if you came across these doctors by chance when you booked an appt or if there was a way you found them specifically?

Just curious of people’s stories on this subject!

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In most cases I got recommendations from other diabetics that had good experiences. Once I attended ADA sponsored event, and one speaker was an endo in my area. I liked his presentation, and switched to him.

Most recently, my endo retired, and I asked them for recommendations. They suggested several, along with why she thought it was good match. And my current endo I have I picked due to many positive, detailed reviews on the hospital network website. She is in same office as my primary, who also gave positive feedback.

Ask your GP, or other medical person. I have never been steered wrong.

The jerk and really bad one, he was the only endo my group had at the time. I was also told he was really good. I do not consider him good. Especially compared to the endos I’ve had since then. If he was any good he wouldn’t have been so riveted on me being a type 2, Especially since I had an uncle that had been a type 1 and there were no type 2’s in my family.

The really good one that I got next was by pure luck. I had switched doctors to an internist and as soon as my group hired a new endo she sent me to her and said I would love her, that she was really nice. ( she had agreed the other endo I had was known to be a jerk) That new endo tested me right away without me even asking and diagnosed me properly. She just so happened to be a type 1 too.And she was very nice and knowledgeable.

I have found my current doctor is the best way to go because they know what I want and need and who might be a good fit. When my insurance made us use a PCP for everything, my current endo recommenced a great PCP who works well we my mind set. He is still my PCP even though insurance change again allows me to see whoever I’d like in system.
And while asking others is a good way, I find that because we all want and need different things, the doctor who works for me might not work for you. My doctor is a tech guy and loves interpreting reports. I also love reading reports. But if you are a touching feely person, might not be a good fit. Although,we have gotten to that point now because my new tech system is doing such a good job, there is not much to talk about.

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Something we refer to frequently is Castle Connolly, the NYC freely available linked below, and just to be honest, my last endo was in the list, but before he retired (transferred his practice, and started working for the VA) said that it was politics, although I know it is based on facts, plus opinions.

Along with interviewing them, part of finding a good doctor is luck, or word of mouth and connections. My first memorable endo might have been recommended to me, or someone who happened to be near my college. As it happens, he has been listed in Castle Connolly for decades. When I moved to New York he recommended a colleague, Andrew Drexler, who is now a doctor for Supreme Court Justice Judge Sotomayer. He also ran Mt Sinai’s clinic for a while, but that closed, and he over moved to NYU Langone. I stayed with him, and when he sold his practice I wound up with Michael Bergman, who came from the pharmaceutical industry and initially was not listed in Castle Connolly but was eventually added. He has been the best so far.

My bad years occurred when Bergman’s practice was bought by NYU, and our communication broke down. Up to that point, I could email him with questions, within the bounds of professionalism, and he always responded. The hospital system prevents direct communication and limited his time with patients. Normally, we would arrange a late Friday appointment, and often spend 90 minutes discussing my treatment. Although I would take this with a grain of salt, he said thought highly of me, considered me the 1% of patients, and felt that he learned things from me. Because of this breakdown, I interviewed a few doctors, and saw another for 2 years, to my detriment, where my A1c’s crept over 7.0, and prompted me to go back.

My current endo is someone that I am sticking with. I’ve interviewed other doctors and had experience with several, some bad ones not mentioned, and although she is not as analytical as my last, I like her style and her knowledge. It is also why I went back to a CGM. I had mid-6’s for years on my own, but my numbers crept up and I realized that I needed to ‘up my game’ since I was not getting the level of care with the new practice.

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I gained more respect to my endocrinologist as years passed. She is the only one I have had, except for a brief encounter with an endo in a hospital, which was a horrifying experience. I started looking for a specialist after being diagnosed with diabetes. There are a lot of them and it is hard to figure out what they are good at, but they put a brief description of their practice, so I decided to look for those who mention diabetes first, ideally in the name of the practice. Googling gave my current endo in the first results and I booked an appointment. I learned everything about diabetes myself by that time and didn’t expect much from a doctor except for prescriptions and blood tests. This went great, she saw my numbers, gave me prescriptions and didn’t push her opinions on me. She helped with some other issues that came up over the years and she gently steered me in the right direction, but it took me years to realize how lucky I am to be her patient.

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In 2007 I ended up in ER. They highly recommend Dr.BB’s /new practice. I made the apt and they were correct, he was both good & personable. He helped me get my A1C down from 8.6 to low 7s. He was a keeper, I stayed with him for over a decade.

Later that year, I ended up with an endo, & moved from N+R to MDI. The first endo was crapo, he left the D center 5 days later. I opted for the best Dr/endo i(Dr. DH) n town. His patient manner was mostly good, & technically was by far the BEST.

Then in 2018, I came down with Addison’s (primary autoimmune). I had a syncope, went to ER just to get checked out. The hospital wanted me to stay overnight, just for observation.

The next morning, Mar 01, 2 RNs entered my room about 8:05 am. The male RN gave me an anti nausea med, I asked him WHY? no response. Then the female asked me if she could give me my insulin. I said yes. She immediately started injecting Lantus directly into my veins via the IV port. I quickly lapsed into a full blown COMA. I was blind & helpless, but I could still hear. She immediately started boasting how easily she got me to let her KILL me.

Less that 4 hrs later (about 11:40a), the hospital record shows she returned & gave me yet another injection of Lantus. They ran an EEG about 2:50pm, to confirm they had me in a COMA.

I came out of the COMA shortly before 3:30 am Mar, 2nd, Two care givers were walking toward my open door. They talked about having done yet another injection. They stopped in my doorway, & one of them announced, "He’s a DEAD MAN, to someone in the hall, followed by loud laughter.

I played dead for my safety, they had disconnected the bedside vitals monitor, so they did not know I had awakened from the coma. I will never forget that doorway proclamation that I was “dead”, or the non-plus expression of the Dr in charge of the failed in house murder of ME!.

Dr. BB & I, both agreed that Dr. DH would be the best to go to for possible Addison’s. I later learned that Dr DH was in fact a real life Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. He (unwittingly) gave himself away, in my follow-up apts. trying to figure out what went wrong with the 2 murder attempts, one just hours earlier, I did not previously know about.

Needless to say, I had to change doctors, mostly out of town, and for my wife as well.
It’s been H311 these past couple years but we are surviving, as best we can.

I lost Dr. BB, because he was part of the hospital sys. that tried to kill me. At my last apt, he said in a loud voice, "GET OUT AND DON’T COME BACK’ for everyone especially newly HFHS planted staff in his office to hear, then, in a soft voice, he asked me in a pleasent tone, “do you have enough insulin”. He still cared, but his practice was owned by the hospital conglomerate We both understood the situation

JD. Gomer .

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Research his/her credentials and academic research. I usually choice from a teaching hospital.

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Also, I’ll tend to prefer those who are most recently board-certified, and focus on diabetes, not just endocrinology. I do not aim to be ageist, but those that learned recently tend to have the most up to date knowledge. The other side is that while knowledge might decrease over time, or in some ways get ‘sticky’, surgical skill tends to increase over time.

Regardless, you need to evaluate them as individuals. One of my best endocrinologists doctors was also the oldest.

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@typ1 - I was going to agree, but then I thought I needed to check my bias, so did a quick search, and some to degree was as expected, but I could not find anything specific to endocrinology:

Teaching Hospitals and Quality of Care: A Review of the Literature
In summary, the largest and most rigorous studies that evaluated the quality of care in teaching and nonteaching hospitals found that for common conditions, particularly in elderly patients, major teaching hospitals generally offer better care than do nonteaching hospitals

And this:

Also:

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Another source, but for hospitals and not specifically doctors, although it can help you find someone board-certified at one of the high-ranking institutions is US News and Health:

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90% of endos job is to be responsive to getting rx’s refilled and jumping through insurance hoops for devices, pumps, cgm etc.

In my experience the best referrals are made by word of mouth.

I’d also encourage you to look at nurse practitioners who practice in specialized diabetes field… my experiences with them have been far better than with doctors… really no comparison imo—- though of course either are hit or miss—- I do believe there are cultural and systemic differences that more often than not benefit the patient when they work with NPs in my experience… you don’t have to be the worlds leading expert to be a good diabetes hc provider… you have to know the basics pretty well, know how to monitor overall health and manage referrals (as any hc provider should)… and be responsive and willing to jump through hoops for your patients

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Another point about doctors, is that the quality of care is also about the office and administration around them. Incompetent and uncaring staff can make the best doctor seem terrible, and great administration can make incompetent doctors seem better than they are…

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I found the best endo I ever had through a dietician’s front desk employee who was known to be great at matching patients with endos. I told her all of the complaints I had about my current endo and she said got it I think you’d be a way better match with this doctor. I then saw that doctor for years before they finally made me switch because I moved 8 hours away. I haven’t had an even decent endo since then and it has been 11 years.

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I think one other area to consider is the human nature involved. My treatment over the past decades has been at Joslin-Boston, so have been with the same treatment center for decades. Early on, I went through a few endos there and my observation for my needs, in general, is that I have received better care from female endos than males. The female endos tend to be pickier and more detail oriented than the males and emotionally be more concerned about my treatment. I am a very numbers oriented individual so this is what has worked best for me. My male endos were also great in the first few years, but not as anal about my numbers and treatment.

Please note that this is a very general personal observation and decision and that there are always exceptions and I don’t feel that one gender is any better than the other for everyone, however, one gender does generally perform considerably better for my needs and desires which will be totally different for another individual.

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My experience of gender as an indicator has been mixed. I’m not just thinking about doctors, but NP’s and PA’s as well since they often provide intermittent care.

The overarching qualities of good care for me is a person that listened and interacted with me, went down into the details, was not simplistic or condescending, and was not trying to be upbeat but was factual and informative.

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