Many patients that are in need of their first eye exam are unsure of what to look for when it comes to finding a provider that can serve them at the level they expect. Moving to the City of Bridges also means finding a bridge between your old eye doctor and a new one that is just as capable of meeting your needs. However, understanding the options that are available to you when you are in need of an unfamiliar type of care or in a new city can take plenty of research. Here are some helpful tips for finding just the right Pittsburgh eye doctor for you!
What to Look For When Evaluating Potential New Eye Doctors
Evaluating your options can feel overwhelming when searching for an eye doctor in a new city, especially if you have just moved from a small town or suburb that has far fewer practices to choose from than the Pittsburgh area. Even if you have lived here for decades, you may not know what to look for when preparing for your first eye exam. Here are some of the most important things to consider when looking at potential new eye doctors to help you better understand who might be a good fit for you!
Overall Reputation and Testimonials
Finding a new eye doctor or other healthcare provider can be particularly challenging when you have never needed one before or after moving to a new city where you have limited to no knowledge of which practices have a very positive or very poor reputation. This means that taking plenty of time to read as many firsthand reviews and testimonials as you can find is an important step in getting an idea of which eye doctors Pittsburgh residents tend to prefer and avoid.
However, it is also important to keep in mind that each review reflects one person’s opinion and individual experience. Clinics that genuinely put their patients first are always searching for ways to improve, and not every perception of a particular clinic is an accurate predictor of what your experience will look like. For this reason, taking any negative reviews that may no longer be relevant with a grain of salt is also an important step in giving a clinic that may turn out to be a great fit for you a fair chance. Setting up an initial consultation with the eye doctors that most interest you can give them an opportunity to respond to any questions or concerns you have to further support your full understanding of their practice.
Many practices post testimonials on their websites, which can be a helpful starting point if you are already visiting the site for another reason. However, reading reviews on Google Maps, social media pages, and other sources can also help you build a more complete picture of what your experience choosing each of the eye doctors you are considering might look like. Talking to neighbors, coworkers, people from your family’s school or church, and other locals that you are getting to know can also give you an idea of which eye doctors tend to be the most problematic or highly recommended.
Typical Availability
Even a seemingly perfect eye doctor can only do so much for you if you usually need to wait months to schedule an appointment, their hours are too limited to fit into your busy schedule, or they offer no emergency coverage. Many larger eye clinics in the Pittsburgh area offer extended hours for emergencies, which can be a helpful benefit to already have access to if you need it, but you may be less likely to find this coverage if you prefer the more personalized service of a small sole-proprietor. Carefully considering whether the options you are considering offer enough office hours on appropriate days can help you avoid having to take time off of work or school for appointments.
Strong Reputation for Handling Your Unique Eye Care Needs
Many eye doctors provide quality basic eye exams but offer limited coverage for more specialized vision issues or other eye health concerns. This means that spending plenty of time researching eye doctors that are known for excelling in one or more specific areas that you need ongoing treatment for is often more beneficial than only considering the general best options. While there is nothing wrong with seeing a specialist if you need to, making sure that the primary eye doctor you choose is capable of handling any conditions you currently have can significantly increase your overall convenience and level of trust in your new provider during your first months and years of settling into the Pittsburgh area.
Comparing Your Options
Chances are, no eye doctor will be a perfect fit for you. Creating a specific list of everything you want in an eye doctor can be an excellent way to find options that come close to your ideal choice, but it is important to keep in mind that finding one that hits every point is unlikely to be realistic. This means that you will need to carefully consider which of your preferences are non-negotiable and which non-essential preferences are more or less important to you when evaluating your top choices.
Potential Red Flags to Watch For
Understanding what you do not want is often just as important as carefully considering the details of what you are looking for in a new eye doctor. While you may not have the opportunity to identify some of these red flags before becoming a patient, reading plenty of reviews can often give you a heads-up if a particular eye doctor tends to have problems in one or more of these areas. Some common red flags that likely indicate that a particular eye doctor or practice is unlikely to provide the quality of care and overall experience you are looking for include:
- An inability to provide evidence of specific credentials that are important to you or sufficient evidence of experience treating a condition you have
- A general lack of professionalism, especially if the eye doctor does not seem to be competent enough to meet your expectations or creates an environment where you feel unsafe, unwelcome, or poorly cared for
- A general inability to explain what certain ocular and other relevant medical concepts mean and why they should matter to you in terminology you can understand
- A lack of interest in explaining these concepts at all because they are too focused on income and do not place enough priority on helping their patients as people
- Frequent billing errors or an inability to work with your preferred insurance company
- Little to no incorporation of cutting-edge treatment options and best practices
- An exceptionally high number of poor reviews, especially when many past patients have been pointing out the same problems for months or even years and they have remained unfixed
Understanding How Your Insurance Impacts Your Options
Even the best eye doctor will only be a good fit for you if they are able to accept your current or preferred insurance. If you already have one or a few specific eye doctors that you would prefer in mind, you can simply ask your insurance provider if they cover that practice. Otherwise, you can ask for a list of all the eye doctors in the Pittsburgh area that they currently cover and limit your search to options on that list.
Choose Chang Eye Group for Quality Eye Care in Pittsburgh
At Chang Eye Group, we prioritize helping newcomers to the Pittsburgh area connect with an eye doctor that best meets their needs. While we know that every patient is unique, our clinic is an excellent starting point for making sure that you know where to find the ocular care you need in the Pittsburgh area before you need it. Founded in 1990, our clinic has built a competitive reputation for offering top-notch care that keeps patients coming back for decades. From routine eye exams and a wide selection of stylish new glasses to reliable coverage for a variety of acute and ongoing ocular concerns, our team’s vast array of expertise allows us to provide some of the best all-around care in town.
We also have connections with many of the area’s top specialists, which means that we are able to help you find the care you need if you do develop a condition that is more serious than what we typically handle while remaining our patient for the majority of your eye care needs. Contact us today to learn more about the services we offer or to schedule an appointment at any of our convenient locations!