Walk into any medical office or hospital, and one of the first things they ask is "What is the name of your primary care physician?" Maybe they phrase it differently and ask about your family doctor, or maybe they want to know who your general physician (or GP) is. It gets confusing because no one is using the same phrase. What is what and who is who, when it comes to doctors? To clear up the confusion, the following is provided.

Primary Care Physicians

​This is insurance lingo for your doctor that you see for annual physicals and minor health concerns. The "primary care" title is all about designation of a doctor under your insurance network that is approved by the network and paid for by the network. Since it is highly unlikely that you have a regular doctor that you see outside of your insurance network, you can just provide your usual doctor's name, location, and information.

General Physician

​General physician is your regular doctor, pure and simple. Sprain an ankle? See your usual doctor. Have a sore throat or possibly a sinus infection? See your usual doctor. This doctor is called a "general physician" because he or she did not choose a specialty. His/her degree is a general medicine degree so that he/she can treat patients in a healthcare clinic for a wide variety of medical complaints. Your general physician is the one you see most often for practically everything.

Family Doctor

​Again, this is a general physician, with the one slight exception that this general physician treats more than just you. He/she treats all the members of your family. It could be the same doctor as your general physician, thus making the distinguishing titles completely unnecessary. If you have seen a doctor for decades and now your children see the same doctor, or if your parents see the same doctor, you have a family doctor and a general physician all rolled into one. If that doctor also happens to be in your healthcare network (which is highly likely), then your family/general/primary care physician is all the same person. 

​Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

​So, as you can see, all of these professional titles pretty much describe the same doctor. Are there any real differences? Maybe, but that is the exception and not the standard. So, the next time someone asks you about your GP, your family doctor, or your primary care physician, you know exactly to whom he/she is referring, and you can answer with confidence.

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