Hello,
In April, we shared our commitment to making Zocdoc work better for providers. We also offered a look at what we are working towards, and asked for your ideas and feedback.
Since then, providers like you have shared hundreds of ideas about how we can better support the needs and success of your practice. Today, I’m sharing updates on the progress our team has made in response to this valuable input. You can also discover a summary of the new features here.
Collecting essential information from patients more easily
We heard: “My staff spends hours chasing patients so we can confirm whether they’re in-network with us or not.”
What’s new: Intake – a free, easy-to-use tool that collects forms, insurance cards, and IDs online from all of your patients, not just those who book on Zocdoc. Intake improves patient flow and form accuracy, typically saving staff 15 minutes in administrative work per patient, by allowing patients to digitally fill out forms in advance. And patients like it too: 60% of patients at practices using Intake complete their intake tasks before their appointments. To begin using Intake, free of charge, click on “Get started” on our Intake website.
We heard: “When patients book with inaccurate or inactive insurance, our staff has to do extra work to verify eligibility.”
What’s new: Automated insurance eligibility checks. This functionality saves practices time spent on administrative tasks by helping providers to easily identify the appointments that may require patient outreach. We currently support four of the top insurance carriers – United Healthcare, Aetna, Cigna, and BlueCross BlueShield – and will continue to add additional carriers. To view the status of each automated insurance eligibility check, log into Zocdoc, click on the appointment card in your calendar, and view the “Eligibility” line for supported insurances.
We heard: “Getting an image of the patient’s insurance card – front and back – is necessary for us to validate each patient’s insurance coverage.”
What’s new: Patient insurance card images with the date they were last added. To ensure you have the insurance information you need to confirm an appointment, we’re collecting more insurance card images from patients before they book appointments. All bookings will either show insurance details or be marked as “self-pay” on the appointment card. Patients who search without uploading their insurance card images are required to select a carrier and plan when booking, or select “I’m paying for myself.” To view patient insurance details, log into Zocdoc and click on the appointment card in your calendar to view the “Insurance” section.
Increasing patient commitment
We heard: “When patients cancel last minute or no-show, it’s disruptive to our practice.”
What’s new: Automated messages sent to the patient to keep appointments top of mind. To minimize no-shows and cancellations, we’ve added multiple patient communication touchpoints to better engage patients. Patients will receive several text or email notifications from Zocdoc before and after their appointment. Messages include appointment reminders, directions to your office, a reminder of our cancellation policy, the option to ‘quick add’ the appointment to their calendar, rescheduling prompts if they indicate the need to cancel, follow-up appointment reminders, and more. Additionally, patients of practices using our new Intake tool will receive automatic intake requests and reminders. This significantly improves appointment attendance: providers using Intake have seen 23% more patients attend appointments than before using Intake.
Attracting only patients you can treat
We heard: “I sometimes receive bookings from patients who aren’t right for my practice.”
What’s new: We are guiding patients on how to choose the right provider with:
- Video visit location alerts: Before booking, we are now testing messaging to help make patients aware that during the video visit they must be present in the same state in which the provider is licensed.
- Out-of-network alerts: As patients search, we are doing more to explain the different insurance options, and if they select an out-of-network provider, we show multiple alerts to ensure they are aware. To confirm that your list of accepted insurances are up to date, log into Zocdoc and navigate to your insurance settings.
- Specialty guidance: For specialities like mental health and orthopedic care, we’ve added search filters, pricing guidance, and questionnaires to help guide patients to book with the right providers.
Join us live to learn more
To learn more about our new Intake tool and other ways we’re making Zocdoc work better for you, we welcome you and your staff to join us live on August 9. I will share exclusive product updates, including what’s next, and answer your questions. You can register for the webinar here.
Thanks,
Alex Doyne
VP of Product Management