UH Becomes First Ohio Hospital System to Offer Seamless Online Access

CLEVELAND, Sept. 15, 2015 – University Hospitals (UH) is launching real-time online appointment booking and physician reviews, giving Northeast Ohio patients seamless, any-time access to UH physicians. Powered by national digital health marketplace Zocdoc, UH is the first hospital system to offer real-time online booking to Ohio patients.

UH’s collaboration with Zocdoc enhances patients’ ability to more conveniently find and schedule appointments with doctors any time of day, even when the office is closed. Forty percent of appointments scheduled via Zocdoc are booked outside of typical business hours.

“This service brings great value and convenience to patients,” said University Hospitals CEO Thomas F. Zenty III. “Patients, as consumers, deserve and expect convenience and information. We want to make it easy for them to choose and stay with UH as their healthcare partner. This modern yet simple access breakthrough helps us engage patients on their own terms and their own schedules.”

To use the free service, Northeast Ohio patients can visit UHhospitals.org/schedulenow or download the free Zocdoc iPhone or Android app. There, patients can search for providers by insurance and zip code, read professional profiles and verified patient reviews, see doctors’ real-time availability, and make appointments instantly online. At launch, more than 15 different specialties – including primary care physicians in internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics, as well as OB-GYNS, orthopedists and cardiologists – are bookable via the online service across nearly 100 UH locations.

Patients can use Zocdoc Check-In to speed the paperwork process too. Their online personal and family medical history forms can be filled out prior to a first appointment and then travel securely with the patient from doctor to doctor – saving time and providing physicians with more complete and accurate patient information.

“Technology has transformed every aspect of consumers’ lives – setting expectations for immediacy, convenience, ease and information. Finally, technology is changing healthcare too,” said Zocdoc founder and CEO Cyrus Massoumi. “University Hospitals shares our vision of making the patient experience better, and we’re proud to partner with such forward-thinking providers to change the way Cleveland patients access healthcare, essentially over night.”

Not only does the new UH-Zocdoc partnership make the process of finding a doctor and booking an appointment easier, it also makes it much faster. The typical patient booking via Zocdoc sees a physician within 24 hours – compared to a national average wait time of nearly three weeks. Zocdoc helps uncover the hidden supply of appointments in doctors’ calendars caused by last-minute patient cancellations and reschedules – up to 25 percent of a physician’s day.

UH is the latest progressive health system to partner with Zocdoc in a string of significant enterprise wins for the digital health company. Zocdoc’s health systems business doubled in 2014 and is on track to double again in 2015.

About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio with 26,000 employees, serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 16 hospitals, more than 30 outpatient health centers and primary care physician offices in 15 counties. At the core of our $3.5 billion health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ranked among America’s best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in nine methodology-ranked specialties. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women’s health, orthopaedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and genetics. Its main campus includes UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital, Ohio’s only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org.

About Zocdoc
Zocdoc is the tech company at the beginning of a better healthcare experience. Each month, millions of patients use Zocdoc to find in-network neighborhood doctors, instantly book appointments online, see what other real patients have to say, get reminders for upcoming appointments and preventive checkups, fill out their paperwork online, and more. With a mission to give power to the patient, Zocdoc’s online marketplace delivers the accessible and simple experience patients expect and deserve. Zocdoc is free for patients and available across the United States via Zocdoc.com or free Zocdoc apps for iPhone and Android.

Media Contacts:
George Stamatis / 216.844.3667 / george.stamatis@uhhospitals.org
Amy Juaristi / 212.933.9895 / amy.juaristi@zocdoc.com