Your divorce was final in August, and for the first time since your twenties you’re choosing a doctor yourself. It’s been more than a year since your last physical, the blood pressure pill and the statin are down to their last refill, and you know you’re due. That makes a new-patient physical with the best primary care physician in Herndon, VA the place to start, and the one thing to know first is what to look at.
Here’s what you can check before you book your first visit with Dr. Connie Le at Annandale Primary Care.
Should the Best Primary Care Physician in Herndon, VA Be an Internist or a Family Doctor?
For high blood pressure and high cholesterol in your 40s, either, and an internist’s three years of residency focus on adults and those two conditions in particular. Dr. Le is an internal medicine specialist who worked as a hospitalist at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Kaiser Permanente before founding Annandale Primary Care in 2005.
Dr. Le earned her medical degree at George Washington University in 2000 and completed her internal medicine residency there in 2003; she has more than 25 years of clinical experience and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at GWU. Washingtonian and Northern Virginia Magazine have recognized her as a Top Doctor, and you can confirm each of these on the practice’s website before you call.
How Do I Check Insurance, Availability and Reviews for a Primary Care Physician?
Call 703-642-6633 with your card in hand. Both the Annandale, VA office on Evergreen Lane and the Fairfax, VA office on Old Lee Highway take most insurance plans, and the front desk will tell you when the next new-patient opening is. Keep in mind that the first question is when you can be seen, since a physician you can’t see until March isn’t managing your pressure this month; the second is the drive from Herndon, which you’ll make a few times a year, and the reviews will tell you about wait times.
Our post on the best primary care physician near Herndon for ongoing health management explains what ongoing health management covers.
What Should I Bring to My First Primary Care Visit?
Before your first visit, request your records from the doctor your wife chose, and write down the two prescriptions and any home cuff readings from the past month. The office takes most insurance plans, so bring your card and a photo ID. If you can’t recall the date of your last physical, it’s OK to estimate!
At the visit, you’ll ask three things: who you’ll see when she’s booked, how results reach you, and what she’d change first if your numbers were hers. The first two answers are Dr. Julie Whitehouse, Alex Nguyen, AGPCNP-BC, or Phuong H. Nguyen, PA-C, all on the same chart, and the patient portal; the third is how you’ll know the best primary care physician in Herndon, VA is the one across the desk.
How Often Will the Best Primary Care Physician in Herndon, VA Check My Blood Pressure and Cholesterol?
Next, Dr. Le will check your blood pressure in the office and inquire whether the number is higher or lower than your typical readings at home, and she’ll order a lipid panel, an A1C and kidney function labs to get baseline readings on your cholesterol and blood glucose. Subsequently, you’ll plan on a recheck a few months after any dose change, and once the numbers hold, high blood pressure monitoring at your regular visits.
Rest assured, the refills, the colon cancer screening that starts at 45 and the flu shot all happen in the same practice, and our post on primary care doctor appointments for high blood pressure in Herndon walks through one of those visits, cuff to prescription.
Schedule Your Visit at Annandale Primary Care
You’ll leave your first visit with Connie Le, MD, knowing your numbers, what each one means for your heart, and when you’ll be back. Call Annandale Primary Care at 703-642-6633 to book your physical.