Internal Medicine

Telephone: 203-432-0038
Fax: Team 1: 203-436-8039; Team 2: 203-432-1386; Medical Specialties: 203-432-7461
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm.
During the academic year, extended hours are available on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5:00 – 6:45 pm.

Mission

The Department of Internal Medicine is committed to delivering patient care of the highest quality through clinical excellence, caring, and an environment that is pleasant, efficient and patient-centered. We pledge to be available to our patients when they need us, and to treat every individual with dignity and compassion.

Objectives of the department

• To provide comprehensive and coordinated health care services including preventive care, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, referral, follow-up, patient education and counseling.
• To provide Continuity of Care across the continuum of Healthcare Services.
• To provide a system for the delivery of healthcare services that exhibits efficient patient flow, effective use of time, space, systems, equipment and personnel.
• To maintain a safe environment for both patients and personnel with particular consideration to those with special needs and who are in any way challenged in their health status.

Staff

Chief: Madeline Wilson, MD
Manager of Adult Primary Care: Nanci Fortgang, RN, MPA
Assistant Manager of Internal Medicine: Veronica Redente, RN
Assistant Manager of Primary Care: Anne Gorman

Services

The Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties provides comprehensive primary care to adult members of Yale Health Plan. The department provides chronic disease management, as well as preventive health care and routine physical examinations, sick visits, and pre-operative examinations. The department provides a spectrum of in-house medical specialty consultations, including Cardiology, Infectious Disease, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Endocrinology as well as a comprehensive Hematology/Oncology Service. The nursing staff provides blood pressure monitoring, a Coumadin management program and diabetic management programs in collaboration with the patient’s primary care clinician.

All members are designated a primary care clinician with the help of the Member Services department. We encourage you to see your primary care clinician whenever possible. Your primary care clinician will provide preventive care, treat you for routine conditions, monitor ongoing problems, and coordinate any specialty care you might need.

To ensure continuous access to care for our patients, the Department of Internal Medicine has adopted a team approach. If your primary care clinician is unavailable, you will have access to other clinicians on your primary care team. The clinical care team consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurse coordinators, medical assistants and clinical receptionists. Together this team will collaborate to provide the care you need, as well as to coordinate specialty care. You can contact the managers by email for non emergency, administrative concerns at nanci.fortgang@yale.edu or anne.gorman@yale.edu.

If you would prefer to see a clinician other than the one named, you may request a change by coming in to or calling Member Services (203-432-0246). Please do not hesitate to contact these staff members should you have any additional questions.

Teams

Team One:	Team Two:
Delly Alcantara, MD
Kathryn Leinhardt, MD	Madeline Wilson, MD
Trish Loving PA- C	Daniel Geisser, MD
Christiane Nockels, PA-C, PhD	Cynthia Holland-Toftness, APRN
David Smith, MD	Moreson Kaplan, MD
John Toksoy MD	Susan Langerman, APRN
Lorraine Sibley, RN Coordinator	Slawomir Mejnartowicz, MD
Kathleen Blum, RN Coordinator	Molly Meyer, APRN
Kia Whitaker, RN Coordinator	Lisa Ann Mendoza, RN Coordinator
	Linda Chabot, RN Coordinator
Call Center Team:	Michael Rigsby, MD
Anne Gorman, Assistant Manager Adult Primary Care
Kathleen Blum, RN Coordinator
Patricia Reed, RN Coordinator
Kia Whitaker, RN Coordinator
Kinnita Daniels, Sr. Receptionist, lead appointment scheduler

Contacting our department

Our phone hours are 8:30 to 5pm Monday through Friday. We are committed to providing the best possible telephone access to the department and we monitor our telephone lines closely. Below are the options after the main greeting on our department line, 203-432-0038:

Press 1: Emergency Line
Press 2: If you are a clinician or hospital
Press 3: Prescription Refill Line

Then:

Routine prescriptions filled at YHP Press 1

Narcotics Press 2

Press 4: Test Results
Press 5: Scheduling a routine appointment, clinician messages or return calls

Then:

To speak with a Nurse regarding your medical symptoms or if you need medical advice, Press 4

To cancel an appointment and do not need to speak with a receptionist Press 1

For all other calls Press 3

Press 6: All other calls and inquiries

Appointments

Routine care: Appointments are available Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm. During the academic year we provide extended hours on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Please call the department at 203-432-0038 (press 5) to speak with our receptionist to schedule your routine appointments. Every effort is made to provide you access to an appointment that meets your clinical needs.

Physical Examinations: We provide and encourage periodic examinations to review active health issues and make sure that recommended preventive care for your age (such as cancer screening, cholesterol testing) is up to date. Physical exams are scheduled in accordance with our Health Maintenance Guidelines as outlined below.  Annual examinations are only suggested for individuals over the age of 50:

Age under 40 years	Every 5 years
Age between 40 and 50	Every 2 years
Age 50 or older	Annually
We are happy to discuss preventive care at any visit

Illness or urgent care: If you are ill or need to be seen in 1-2 days, please call 203-432-0038, select option 5 on our phone tree, and request to speak with our triage nurse. We have two triage nurses that are available to speak with you and assess your care needs. It is best to call early morning if you want to be seen within the day. Please note that walk-in appointments may be accommodated only if evaluated by a nurse and determined to be clinically urgent. Our team nurses and clinicians have busy schedules, so we hope you understand that walk-in requests for non-urgent care may not be available. We strongly encourage you to call our triage nurse rather than coming directly to YUHS.

Pre operative appointments: If you are having surgery, it is likely that the Surgical Coordinator will schedule you for a ‘pre-op” appointment in the Internal Medicine department. These appointments must be scheduled as far in advance as possible, and may not always be with your PCC. Lab work and EKG, if ordered, should take place within two weeks of your scheduled pre-op appointment.

Blood Pressure monitoring appointments: Often your clinician will ask you to return on a frequent basis to monitor your blood pressure. These appointments can be scheduled with the RN Coordinator on your care team. The RN will work with your Primary Care Clinician in providing optimal care for you.

Cancellations or rescheduling: If you are unable to make a scheduled appointment we urge you to call as soon as possible to cancel so that we can use that appointment for another patient. For appointment cancellations, please select option 5, and follow the prompts.

On the day of your appointment: Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment to allow us to get you ready for your appointment, and to help us stick to our schedules. If you are having lab work done prior to your appointment, you will need to arrive a minimum of 30 minutes in advance of your scheduled appointment.

Specialty Care

YUHS and the Department of Internal Medicine provides access to a full spectrum of medical and surgical specialists and services. Some of these providers come to our facility on 17 Hillhouse Avenue, and in other cases we may refer you to a specialist at Yale School of Medicine or in the New Haven area.

• On-site medical specialties: Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Neurology and Medical Oncology (cancer care)—described in more detail below
• Other on-site specialty services: Surgical specialties including Orthopedics, Ear, Nose and Throat, Allergy, Travel Medicine, Dermatology, Physical Therapy
• Off-site specialties: Rheumatology (arthritis and related conditions), Nephrology (kidney diseases), Hepatology (liver diseases)

Your YHP insurance requires that you use our identified consultants and have a referral from your PCC. If you feel you need to see someone outside of our staff or contracted consultants you need to apply for prior authorization.

Referrals for specialty care, services or testing
Each care team has a referral coordinator who will coordinate all aspects of your specialty needs. If your PCC feels you need consultation with a specialist, the referral coordinator will make sure you are eligible for coverage of the requested services, as well as give you any information you may need to schedule your appointments. Some appointments require special instructions, which will also be mailed or phoned to you in advance. Your clinician or medical assistant can give you a requisition for Mammograms at either our Mobile Van, Long Wharf or Yale Diagnostic Radiology at 800 Howard Avenue. For all other Referrals, if there is enough time we can mail them to you.

Medical Specialties

Veronica Redente, RN Coordinator

Medical Oncology/Hematology:
Molly Meyer, APRN (YUHS Staff)
Jeremy Kortmansky, MD
Thomas Fynan, MD

Cardiology:
Larry Young, MD, Lynda Rosenfeld, MD and faculty physicians of Yale School of Medicine Department of Cardiology

Endocrinology:
Faculty physicians from the Yale School of Medicine Department of Endocrinology
Barbara Gulanski, MD
Silvio Inzucchi, MD
Richard Kibbey, MD
Robert Gelfand, MD
Vanessa Jefferson, CDE

Gastroenterology:
Faculty physicians from the Yale School of Medicine Department of Gastroenterology
Joan Cho, MD (YUHS Staff)
Henry Binder, MD
Martin Floch, MD
Deborah Proctor, MD

Neurology:
Ogden Petroff, MD and faculty physicians from Yale School of Medicine Department of Neurology

Laboratory testing and results

YUHS contracts with Quest Lab for lab services. You may have your testing performed at any of their locations in Connecticut, as well as the facility located within our building.When your clinician requests lab tests, please make sure to keep your lab requisition in a safe place, it and bring it to the lab with you.

Obtaining your results: Availability of test results varies with the type of test ordered. Please allow at least 5 business days for your test results to return and for the ordering clinician to review them.

• Normal results may be communicated to you through the mail, or through Yale Health on Line, our secure web-based clinician-patient communication tool. We encourage you to sign up for a Yale Health On Line account in order to facilitate this process. http://www.yale.edu/uhs/yhol.html
• If results are abnormal, you will receive a call from your PCC or a team member.
• If you have not heard from us about test results within 2 weeks, we encourage you to call 203 432 0038 and select option 4 on the phone tree to leave a message for your clinician’s Medical Assistant. She will coordinate with your Primary Care Clinician to provide you with results.

Frequently asked questions

1. I lost my lab slip. How do I get a new one?
   Please call Internal Medicine at 203-432-0038 and press 5. You can talk with one of our staff who will discuss this with your clinician. We can either mail you a new lab slip or tell you where you can pick up your lab slip at 17 Hillhouse Avenue.
2. How do I renew my prescription?
   Many of our Internal Medicine patients often need refills of their medications. If you use an outside pharmacy, please have your pharmacy FAX the request to 203-432-8174. Please allow a minimum of 1- 2 full business days to process this request.
   
   If using YHP Pharmacy, please call our Pharmacy at 203-432-0033 and press 1 for these requests. Please allow at least 2-3 full days for processing of your refill. If you are requesting a narcotic prescription refill, please call Internal Medicine at 203-432-0038 and press 3, and then press 2.

Guidelines
Adult Preventive Health Guidelines
www.diabetes.org