Why Won’t My Primary Physician See Me After an Accident?

After you’ve been in a car accident, you may wish to see your regular primary care physician that you know and trust. After all, they know you and your medical history and they’ve been taking care of your health needs for a while. However, you may find that your doctor doesn’t want to see you. Why?

There are two main reasons for this. First, your physician mainly deals with major medical insurance while we at Complete Care mainly deal with PIP Insurance. What’s the difference? Major medical is coverage from a medical insurance provider and covers things like:

• Checkups and other preventative care
• Emergency services
• Pregnancy and maternity care
• Mental health care
• Labwork

This is the type of insurance that primary care providers know well.

PIP Insurance, on the other hand, is Personal Injury Protection and is an extension of your car insurance that covers medical expenses and possibly lost wages for people who have been in an auto accident. It is a “no fault” insurance coverage because it pays claims no matter who was at fault. In the state of Florida, PIP coverage is a requirement for all registered motor vehicle owners. PIP pays for 80% of your medical bills and 60% of lost wages up to $10,000.

There are different requirements and protocols inherent in each of these types of coverage, and many primary care physicians simply don’t want to deal with PIP insurance and will recommend you go elsewhere.

The second reason that your primary care physician may refer you to someone else is that they are not always equipped for these types of injuries. They may be excellent doctors, but when it comes to issues that are out of their scope of expertise, they’ll refer you elsewhere. If you saw them because you were having foot pain, they would look at your foot and if it wasn’t an obvious injury, they would refer you to a podiatrist who is a doctor who focuses on the treatment of medical problems of feet and ankles. The same is true for us. We focus solely on the diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue injuries that occur in automobile accidents. Your doctor knows it’s better to send a patient to CC and will refer them directly to us.

We know exactly where to look for hidden injuries, that may go undiagnosed otherwise. Hidden injuries are ones that are not obvious; you may not feel any pain and may not even know you were injured. They can take days or months for their symptoms to appear, and if they go undiagnosed can cause problems down the road and be more difficult to treat.

If you’ve been injured in an automobile accident, you don’t have to see your primary care physician first. We can handle your initial examination, diagnose any injuries, and come up with a comprehensive treatment plan for your recovery. Call Complete Care at to schedule your appointment today.