Do you Zocdoc for a medical appointment?

The business people who recently expanded a medical scheduling site to Long Island know they will be successful once they hear people say "I Zocdoc'd an appointment."

Sounds funny, but think of people saying ''I Googled it.''

Zocdoc is a site that allows patients to schedule same-day appointments without having to wait to talk to a receptionist or discuss private medical issues over the phone while in the office.

You just put in your ZIP code, or city and state, what type of doctor you want to see, the reason for your visit, the name of your insurance plan and provider. You will immediately get the name of all such doctors in your area who accept your insurance. You will also get the doctor's calendar so you can pick an appointment. The service is free to patients. Doctors pay $250 a month for the Zocdoc software.

Zocdoc got started in Manhattan in 2007 and expanded recently to Long Island, where it has a small sales staff. It all began when business consultant Cyrus Massoumi got an earache on a cross-country flight in early 2007. He couldn't find a doctor when he landed. He teamed up with Dr. Oliver Kharrazto start the site.

"Your kid may get sick in the middle of the night and you want to see a doctor first thing in the morning. You call in the middle of the night and no one answers," Kharraz said.

Dr. Michele C. Reed, a family doctor in Garden City and Rosedale, said she just joined Zocdoc. "We have 50 patients a month making appointments," Reed said. "About half of them are new patients."

Zocdoc has 4.9 million available appointments across the country, more than 2 million in the metropolitan area. There are 700,000 users a month.

Tabata Borali-Faltings of Northport, an accountant, needed a dermatologist near her Great Neck office but with work piling up had little time to search. Google led her to Zocdoc.

"It was very easy to go through the process," she said.