Referring a Patient

Referring a patient to our

 Internal Medicine

or Surgery Specialist:  To refer a patient to OPVMC to see one of our board certified specialists in internal medicine and surgery, please call our new direct referral line at  716-844-6929 or the main number 716-662-6660 or you may fax your referral letter and patient records to 1-800-284-0306.  

You may call our office utilizing our new direct referral phone line 716-844-6929 to set up the appointment.  Or you can still call our main number 716-662-6660 and you will be prompted to select an option for referral appointments for veterinarians from our auto attendant phone system which will route directly to a voice mailbox where you may leave a message.   A technician will contact you to review information and advise you about the referral doctor's next available appointment 

You may also fill-out the on-line referral form on our website and submit it via email or print and fax. We will contact you to confirm an appointment with one of our specailists.

You may also make your request consultation via facsimile when sending the referral letter to us.  A technician will contact you to review information and advise you of the referral doctor's next available appointment.  At  this point, the urgency of the case can be determined and we can have one of our staff coordinate the appointment. Urgent referral consultations will be examined by our emergency veterinarian if our specialist has no available appointments,then stabilized and consultation with the specialist will be scheduled as soon as possible.  Our internist is not available on Wednesdays, weekends, or holidays. We do have a surgeon available all 5 weekdays for scheduled appointments and surgery and for emergency surgery on weekends, holidays and overnight.

For urgent internal medicine and surgical cases, please call our office and then select the auto attendant option for an emergency to speak a receptionist directly.  For these cases, your patient will be examined by and admitted to the hospital by one of our critical/emergency doctors, then stabilized as needed.  From this point, while the client may not meet directly with the specialist, the critical care/emergency doctor may consult with the specialist to determine the best course of treatment.  Consultations directly between the specialist and the client may also take place.  

Please be sure to send a complete referral letter, copies of any completed bloodwork and x-rays if taken.  If you have any questions, please call our office and we will assist you.  Thank you for your trust in us to treat your patients. 

Referring a Patient to the Behavioral Specialist: OPVMC currently does not have a veterinarian on staff who specializes in behavioral medicine.  However, all of our doctors have had special training and clinical experience in behavioral medicine and will schedule behavior consultations for mild and moderate behavioral problems.  We also have access to a visiting veterinarian who is a specialist in behavioral medicine.   To refer a patient to OPVMC to see a specialist for behavioral problems in cats or dogs (or other species) for aggression, anxiety, soiling, and compulsive disorders, please send a written referral by email or make the phone call to Dr. Germaine Rivard, DVM PhD.   Our behaviorist, Dr. Germaine Rivard is our visiting veterinarian form Cornell who schedules appointments, currently on the second Thursday of each month in tandem with Dr. Katherine Houpt.  Please have your client call Dr. G. Rivard to set up the appointment here at OPVMC.  His phone number is 607-273-9758.  Alternatively the client or referring  veterinarian can visit Dr. Rivard's website, Animal Behavior Consultants of Upstate New York, ABCUNY, http://www.abcuny.com to set up the appointment at OPVMC and Dr. Rivard will notify us.  The history forms and calendar of his scheduled visits to OPVMC are on his website as well.