What is a primary care physician?

A primary care physician manages your health-care program. This includes everything from treating a minor cut or illness to more serious treatment that might require the expertise of a specialist. In this event, your primary care physician will issue a referral to seek treatment from a specialist more suited to the particular needs of your given illness or injury. Please note - with HMO plans a referral is always necessary when seeking specialized medical treatment. With a PPO plan, you have more flexibility and are able to obtain treatment from a specialist without prior consent of a primary care physician. Before traveling, you should take a look at your policy details and select a primary care physician. This will save you a lot of time and energy, as well as enable you the freedom of looking around to find the best physician to meet your medical care needs.