Talk openly with prospective providers about their experiences dealing with special needs you may have. This may include a wide range of health challenges, including chronic disease, transgender, disabilities, abuse and trauma.

Family doctors, pediatricians, internists, OB/GYNs and geriatricians are all primary care providers. If you want to work with a provider who has expertise in a particular field or specialty, review their bio and talk with them about their experience. You also may wish to find a board-certified provider in that specialty.

If you have health insurance, choosing a medical provider in your network can help keep your health costs down. Your insurance also may allow you to use an out-of-network provider at a higher cost. If you don’t have insurance and will pay out of pocket, talk with prospective providers about the cost of office visits to help you budget for healthcare.

Upland Hills Health partners with a wide range of health plans and PPOs, so if you have insurance, there’s a good chance that we can provide in-network care.

You will engage regularly with your provider’s office staff. It’s important to have a cordial relationship with them, too. Consider when you interact with the staff: Are they courteous and patient? Do they respect your privacy, your name and pronoun preferences, your boundaries? Are they helpful?

It’s important to have access to healthcare when you need it. Questions you might ask: What are the hours for a provider’s practice? Is telemedicine an option? Does the provider offer a 24/7 online portal where you can request appointments or refills and send messages?

Also consider if the provider is in practice for themselves or as part of a group. If it’s important to you to see only your regular provider, talk with him or her about that possibility and how long it can generally take to get an appointment.

For your ease of access, Upland Hills Health has 15 family medicine providers practicing at clinics in seven locations — plus, telemedicine services.

If you have trusted family, friends and colleagues in the area, ask for their recommendations and suggestions of providers they like and why. You might also ask other health professionals, like pharmacists, dentists, etc.