A primary physician is a regular doctor whom has general knowledge in an array of overall care. As a patient you would see this type of physician for normal check-ups and sick visits. A specialist is a doctor that specializes in one area such as pediatrics, obstetrics, and podiatry. If your primary care physician feels that there is something that needs to be looked into that is of more detail or nature, then the primary care doctor will then refer the patient to the specialist, in order for them to dive deeper into the areas of concern. A perfect example of this would be if you had heart problems. If a Primary Care doctor felt there were issues with your heart, then he would refer you to a Cardiologist to find out more about the what’s going on with that patients Heart.

By CPA Guru 4 years ago . Marked as helpful (247). Marked as unhelpful (211)