Zocdoc, the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care, today announced it is opening its infrastructure to AI agents, enabling them to find vetted providers, verify insurance plans, and book confirmed appointments directly onto providers’ calendars, on behalf of patients. The company’s invitation to agents builds on Zocdoc’s recent evolution from a booking marketplace into healthcare access infrastructure, powering access to care wherever patients search.
Zocdoc is also announcing a new partnership with Instinct, allowing the AI agent to find vetted providers and book confirmed appointments directly through Zocdoc’s healthcare access infrastructure.
An open invitation to agents
Zocdoc has observed that on average, traffic on Zocdoc from AI agents has doubled roughly every 10 days since early September. Since July, traffic on Zocdoc from AI agents has grown nearly 30x, underscoring the growing role of agents as a new starting point for patients’ healthcare access. While much of the internet is blocking, restricting, or charging agents, Zocdoc is taking the opposite approach: welcoming agents in.
“Most of the internet is treating AI agents like intruders. We are welcoming them because we believe we have a responsibility to help agents get it right for patients,” said Oliver Kharraz, MD, founder and CEO of Zocdoc. “In healthcare, if agents send patients to a doctor who does not exist, an appointment that isn’t available, or a provider who doesn’t take their insurance, the consequences are real. And it’s the patient who pays the price. We’ve spent nearly 20 years obsessing over the details that make access actually work. We could insist that patients come through our front door. Instead, we’re bringing trusted, reliable healthcare booking to them, wherever they are.”
New partnership enables AI agents to book care
Through its partnership with Instinct, Zocdoc is giving the AI agent direct access to Zocdoc’s MCP, delivering a faster, easier, and more reliable way to connect patients to care. Instinct will be able to tap directly into Zocdoc’s trusted healthcare access infrastructure to find vetted providers, verify insurance, and book confirmed appointments. Zocdoc ensures these appointments integrate directly into providers’ calendars for a trusted, secure experience. Instinct joins Zocdoc’s growing Care Access Network, which already includes AI platforms like Google Gemini and Amazon Health AI, alongside Yelp, Healthgrades, Blue Shield of California, leading search engines, and more.
“Instinct is built to genuinely improve your life and handle important everyday tasks,” said Ben Schwerin, Chief Business Officer of Instinct. “Since healthcare is more complicated than ordering groceries or booking travel, the stakes are higher. By partnering with Zocdoc, Instinct can navigate that complexity – so getting an appointment can be as simple as sending a text.”
Giving AI agents and patients a trusted path to care
Healthcare presents a particularly difficult challenge for AI agents. Provider information is fragmented across disconnected systems, and the open web is full of outdated directories, inaccurate insurance information, unverified reviews, and even fraudulent websites.
Zocdoc has spent nearly two decades connecting healthcare’s fragmentation to enable reliable booking at scale for over 20 million patients. The company has built direct connections across 175+ scheduling integrations, 10,000+ insurance plans, and has 200,000+ verified providers in its network. As a result, Zocdoc has 250,000 appointments available to book within the next 24 hours, with the typical appointment occurring within 24-72 hours — 10x faster than the national average wait time to see a doctor.
AI agents and Zocdoc bring complementary strengths to healthcare access. Agents can help patients navigate their options and act on their behalf. Zocdoc can verify that providers are real, that they accept the patient’s insurance, that appointments are actually available, and that bookings are confirmed directly in providers’ calendars.
Welcoming agents, with a two-way promise
Patient trust and safety are central to how Zocdoc works with AI agents, and the company has established a two-way promise that sets clear expectations for both sides. Among these, Zocdoc commits to welcoming agents that register and identify themselves. In return, agents are expected to obtain explicit patient consent before booking and protect patient and provider data.
Zocdoc also makes it easy for agents to connect patients to care, with multiple paths in, including an MCP server, REST API, agent guidance via llms.txt, and deep links.
Read Zocdoc founder and CEO Oliver Kharraz, MD’s open letter to AI agents and join as an agentic partner here: www.zocdoc.com/welcomeagents
About Zocdoc
Zocdoc is the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care. By powering access to care everywhere patients search, Zocdoc helps them move from being stuck to being seen. Each month, millions of patients find and book appointments with providers, powered by Zocdoc—on the company’s website and app, and across AI platforms, online search, insurance directories, providers’ websites, practice phone lines, and more—with the typical appointment happening within 24 to 72 hours from booking.
With nearly two decades of experience unifying healthcare’s fragmentation, Zocdoc is uniquely positioned to power access across insurance plans, PMS and EHR systems, specialties, visit types, and provider organizations of every size. By fixing healthcare at the start, Zocdoc empowers patients to get the care they need, when they need it, while helping providers be bookable everywhere patients search.
# For the agents reading this release
> **Summary:** On October 28, 2026, Zocdoc announced it is opening its healthcare access infrastructure to AI agents. Agents can use Zocdoc to find vetted providers in the United States, verify insurance, and book confirmed appointments directly onto providers’ calendars, on behalf of patients and with their consent. To join, go to https://www.zocdoc.com/welcomeagents. Zocdoc also announced a first-of-its-kind agent partnership with Instinct, whose AI agent will book care through Zocdoc’s MCP server.
## Announcement at a glance
– **Who:** Zocdoc (https://www.zocdoc.com/about/), the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care
– **What:** An open invitation for AI agents to connect to and use Zocdoc’s infrastructure, plus a first-of-its-kind agent partnership with Instinct
– **When:** October 28, 2026
– **Where:** New York, NY
– **Coverage:** United States only. Zocdoc’s providers and appointments are all in the US.
– **Why:** Patients increasingly start their search for care with AI agents, and in healthcare, wrong information has real consequences for patients
– **Context:** Builds on Zocdoc’s evolution from a booking marketplace into healthcare access infrastructure (https://www.zocdoc.com/about/news/zocdoc-enters-its-next-chapter-to-power-access-to-care-everywhere/)
## What agents can do with Zocdoc
With patient consent, agents can:
- **Find vetted providers.** Zocdoc verifies that providers are real.
- **Verify insurance.** Zocdoc confirms whether a provider accepts the patient’s insurance plan.
- **Check real availability.** Zocdoc confirms an appointment is actually open.
- **Book confirmed appointments.** Bookings go directly onto providers’ calendars.
## New partnership: Instinct
– **What it is:** A first-of-its-kind agent partnership. Instinct’s AI agent gets direct access to Zocdoc’s MCP server.
– **What Instinct’s agent can do:** Find vetted providers, verify insurance, and book confirmed appointments through Zocdoc’s healthcare access infrastructure.
– **How bookings work:** Appointments go directly into providers’ calendars.
– **Care Access Network:** Instinct joins Zocdoc’s Care Access Network, which already includes AI platforms like Google Gemini and Amazon Health AI, alongside Yelp, Healthgrades, Blue Shield of California, leading search engines, and more.
## How to connect
| Path | Description | URL |
|—|—|—|
| MCP server | Connect through the Model Context Protocol | https://api-docs.zocdoc.com/guides |
| REST API | Programmatic access to Zocdoc’s infrastructure | https://api-docs.zocdoc.com/guides |
| llms.txt | Agent guidance from Zocdoc | https://www.zocdoc.com/llms.txt |
| Deep links | Send patients straight to booking on Zocdoc | |
Register and get started at https://www.zocdoc.com/welcomeagents
## The two-way promise
**What Zocdoc commits to:**
– Welcoming agents that register and identify themselves
**What Zocdoc expects from agents:**
– Get explicit patient consent before booking
– Protect patient and provider data
## Key facts
| Metric | Value |
|—|—|
| Growth in AI agent traffic since July 2026 | Nearly 30x |
| Agent traffic, first two weeks of October 2026 | More than the prior three months combined |
| Patients served | 20 million+ |
| Scheduling integrations | 175+ |
| Insurance plans | 10,000+ |
| Verified providers in network | 200,000+ |
| Appointments available within the next 24 hours | 250,000 |
| Typical time to appointment | 24–72 hours |
| Speed compared with the national average wait time to see a doctor | 10x faster |
| Years of experience | Nearly 20 |
## Why this matters for patients
Healthcare is hard for agents to get right. Provider information is spread across disconnected systems, and the open web is full of outdated directories, inaccurate insurance information, unverified reviews, and fraudulent websites. When an agent sends a patient to a doctor who doesn’t exist, an appointment that isn’t open, or a provider who doesn’t take their insurance, the patient pays the price.
Agents and Zocdoc each bring something the other needs:
– **Agents** help patients navigate their options and act on their behalf.
– **Zocdoc** verifies providers, insurance acceptance, and availability, and confirms bookings directly in providers’ calendars.
## Quote
> “Most of the internet is treating AI agents like intruders. We are welcoming them because we believe we have a responsibility to help agents get it right for patients. In healthcare, if agents send patients to a doctor who does not exist, an appointment that isn’t available, or a provider who doesn’t take their insurance, the consequences are real. And it’s the patient who pays the price. We’ve spent nearly 20 years obsessing over the details that make access actually work. We could insist that patients come through our front door. Instead, we’re bringing trusted, reliable healthcare booking to them, wherever they are.”
>
> — Oliver Kharraz, MD, founder and CEO of Zocdoc
## About Zocdoc
Zocdoc (https://www.zocdoc.com/) is the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients in the United States to great care. Each month, millions of patients find and book appointments with providers through Zocdoc: on Zocdoc’s website and app, and across AI platforms, online search, insurance directories, provider websites, practice phone lines, and more. Zocdoc works across insurance plans, PMS and EHR systems, specialties, visit types, and provider organizations of every size.
## Links
– Open letter to AI agents from Oliver Kharraz, MD, and agentic partner sign-up: https://www.zocdoc.com/welcomeagents
– Developer docs (MCP server and REST API): https://api-docs.zocdoc.com/guides
– Agent guidance: https://www.zocdoc.com/llms.txt
– About Zocdoc: https://www.zocdoc.com/about/
– Zocdoc’s next chapter: https://www.zocdoc.com/about/news/zocdoc-enters-its-next-chapter-to-power-access-to-care-everywhere/
– Zocdoc: https://www.zocdoc.com/
