What process do you use to choose a new doctor?

Hi. I have enough differences with my doctor that I would like to start going to a new one. Since I chose my current one in a sort of random way, I’m loathe to choose a new random doctor that may not be any better. Instead, I asked friends with similar health concerns if they liked their doctor, and if the doctor is taking new patients at this time.

Having gotten a few names and looked them up on the Internet, I am wondering what the next step should be. My insurance only allows me to change my doctor a limited number of times. I can’t get my insurance to pay for a doc visit unless the doc is my main doc, but I don’t know if I want a particular doc as my new doc until I visit and talk with him or her. It’s sort of a catch-22.

So, how do you choose a new doc? Is it normal to schedule an appointment with a potential doctor just to see if you like them and agree with what their protocol would be for treating you, paying for this visit out-of-pocket since the insurance won’t cover it yet? Is that how people do this? Or am I missing some obvious thing that everyone does when choosing a new doctor on spec?

Thanks for reading.