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Choosing a Primary Care Provider

It is important that each member of your family has a primary care provider. Your primary care provider (PCP) is the physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who provides your care on a regular basis.

If you have not chosen a primary provider, please let us know whom you would like that person to be. We have included Provider Bios to help you make your choice.

Request your PCP when you make an appointment and we will do our best to have you see the same health care provider at each visit.

Our professional staff wants to work closely with you to make sure that you and your family stay healthy, get to know your provider and your children's provider.

TYPES OF PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS

Country Doctor Community Health Centers employs several different types of primary care providers. We have MDs, ARNPs and PAs. The designation is clearly displayed on their nametag. Listed below is a brief description of the training backgrounds for each type of provider. If you have questions, we encourage discussion of training and qualifications directly with your provider.

MD

Medical Doctors have graduated from an accredited medical school. Our MDs are Board Certified in either Family Medicine or Internal Medicine. They have attended medical school for 4 years followed by at least 3 years of specialty residency training.

ARNP

Nurse Practitioners have masters level education in nursing and are trained to perform physical examinations, order and interpret lab tests, write prescriptions and manage most common problems encountered in primary care.

PA

Physician Assistants are graduates of accredited physician assistant programs, attending school for 2-3 years. They are trained to perform physical exams, order lab tests, and make diagnoses, write prescriptions and manage most problems under the legal supervision of an on-site physician.

We also participate in a residency program with residents from Group Health Cooperative and Virginia Mason. Our medical students are from the University of Washington. You may be given the option of seeing a resident or medical student. You can always choose to see your PCP instead.