Need information on which doctors participate in which health plans or which primary care doctors are taking new patients? Need an appointment promptly?

The new Physician Referral Center Web site, maintained by Cayuga Medical Center at http://cornell.cayugamed.org, can help.

Cornell employees can click on "Find a Physician," and a simple form comes up to request specific information needed. A trained, physician-referral coordinator from Cayuga Medical Center matches your needs and health-plan coverage to a Cayuga Area Plan (CAP) physician or specialist. The coordinator can also schedule an appointment directly or send you a contact number.

"We have been working for some time with Cayuga Medical Center to set up a system for Cornell employees and to introduce new faculty and staff members to the local health-care provider community," said Paul Bursic, director of Cornell's Benefit Services. "This service connects our employees with the family physicians and specialists who are members of the Cayuga Area Plan/Preferred primary care network at the hospital and throughout the county."

Said Travis Turner, Cayuga Medical Center liaison to CAP, "The Physician Referral Center is designed to provide first, single-point-of-easy access for the community, meeting the expectations of patients and physicians."

The Physician Referral Center not only makes it easier for staff and faculty to obtain access to the care they need, but also saves doctors' staff time by reducing the number of inquiries about availability, health plan coverage and whether the doctor is accepting new patients.

"The easier it is for patients to be placed with accessible physicians by using the referral center services, the more patients will develop relationships with primary care physicians rather than rely on the medical center's convenient care or emergency room, thus also cutting down on overall health care costs," Turner added.