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Finding a Doctor
Thursday, July 10, 2008
One way to find a doctor who specializes in cancer care is to ask for a referral from your primary care physician. You may know a specialist yourself, or through the experience of a family member, coworker, or friend.
The following resources may also be able to provide you with names of doctors who specialize in treating specific diseases or conditions. However, these resources may not have information about the quality of care that the doctors provide.
Your local hospital or its patient referral service may be able to provide you with a list of specialists who practice at that hospital.
Your nearest National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center can provide information about doctors who practice at that center. The NCI is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NCI-Designated Cancer Centers database provides contact information for NCI-designated cancer centers located throughout the United States. It is available at http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/cancer-centers on the Internet. Users can select all cancer centers or search by location, type of cancer center, or cancer center name.
The ABMS has a list of doctors who have met certain education and training requirements and have passed specialty examinations. The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists lists doctors' names along with their specialty and their educational background. The directory is available in most public libraries and online at https://www.abms.org/WC/login.aspx on the Internet. The online self-serve resource allows you to conduct searches by a physician's name or area of certification and a state name.
The American Medical Association (AMA) DoctorFinder database at http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/home.html?aps/amahg.htm provides basic information on licensed physicians in the United States. Users can search for physicians by name or by medical specialty.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) provides an online list of doctors who are members of ASCO. The member database has the names and affiliations of over 25,000 oncologists worldwide. It can be searched by doctor's name, institution, location, and/or type of board certification. This service is available at http://www.cancer.net/portal/site/patient (click on "Find an Oncologist").
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) membership database is an online list of surgeons who are members of the ACS. The list can be searched by doctor's name, geographic location, or medical specialty. This service is located at http://web3.facs.org/acsdir/default_public.cfm on the Internet. The ACS can be contacted at 633 North Saint Clair Street, Chicago, IL 60611–3211, or by telephone at 1–800–621–4111.
The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Find a D.O. database provides an online list of practicing osteopathic physicians who are AOA members. The information can be searched by doctor’s name, geographic location, or medical specialty. The database is available at http://www.osteopathic.org/directory.cfm on the Internet. The AOA can be contacted at 142 East Ontario Street, Chicago, IL 60611, or by telephone at 1–800–621–1773.
Local medical societies may maintain lists of doctors in each specialty.
Public and medical libraries may have print directories of doctors' names listed geographically by specialty.
Your local Yellow Pages or Yellow Book may have doctors listed by specialty under "Physicians."
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