How to Refer a Patient?

 
To refer a patient to OPVMC to see one of our board certified specialists in internal medicine and surgery, please do one of the following:

• Call our new direct referral line at 716-844-6929 or our main number 716-662-6660
• Fax your referral letter and patient records to 1-800-284-0306
• E-mail records to contact@opvmc.net
• Complete the on-line referral submission form
  

If you call and a technician is unavailable to take your call at that moment, please leave a voicemail and your call will be returned promptly and they will advise you as to the doctor's next available appointment.  For email and on-line referral submissions, we will contact you to confirm an appointment with one of our specailists.

Cases submitted will be reviewed by the technician and the doctor, where those considered urgent may result in a recommendation for you to have our emergency veterinarian admit your patient, providing stabaliization.   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 Monday through Friday for scheduled appointments and surgery and for emergency surgery on weekends, holidays and overnight.  Our specialist sugeons are available on weekends, on an on-call basis as determined by the emergency veterinarian.

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.