Zocdoc, the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care, today announced a platform expansion that makes providers bookable beyond Zocdoc.com, across the growing number of places patients search for care. As search fragments, providers face a new challenge: keeping up with every channel where patients might be looking for them. Zocdoc is taking on that complexity, helping providers be bookable across those channels without having to manage each one themselves. 

Zocdoc connects providers’ real-time availability to a growing partner network of AI platforms, search engines, insurance directories, review sites and more. As Zocdoc adds partners, providers will automatically extend their reach to be bookable everywhere without having to build and manage a new connection each time.

Any provider can now join Zocdoc’s network for free. There is no booking fee when patients search for a specific provider or book as an existing patient through Zocdoc. Providers pay a one-time booking fee only when Zocdoc helps a patient discover and book with them.

As patients search in more places, it’s harder for providers to keep up

Patients are starting their search for care in more places than ever: from AI platforms to insurance directories, search engines to review sites, and more. According to a new national Zocdoc survey, 69% of patients who search for a new doctor check multiple places. 

As more and more front doors to care emerge, practices can’t realistically manage them one by one. And yet, every new place patients search is an opportunity for providers to win a patient, or a chance to lose one if they aren’t discoverable or easy to schedule. And patients will pick the path of least resistance: more than 1 in 3 have switched doctors because scheduling was too difficult, while 43% would consider switching to a provider who is easier to book.

“Keeping up with every new place patients search for care is becoming an impossible task for providers. With Zocdoc, now they don’t have to,” said Richard Fine, Chief Business Officer at Zocdoc. “We take on that complexity so practices and health systems can spend less time managing channels and more time doing what they actually set out to do: care for patients.”

One connection to be bookable everywhere patients search

Until now, connecting to Zocdoc primarily made a provider discoverable and bookable on Zocdoc.com and the app. Now, that same connection extends beyond Zocdoc, making providers instantly bookable across the company’s recently announced and rapidly growing Care Access Network.

Care Access Network partners already include Amazon Health AI, Gemini, Yelp, Healthgrades, Blue Shield of California, search engines, and more. As Zocdoc continues to add partners, providers will automatically reach millions of patients in these places through their existing connection, without having to build and maintain separate integrations for each new channel.

“We’ve grown with Zocdoc for years. Now, as patients change how and where they look for care, Zocdoc is helping us grow with them,” said Julie Gessin, Chief Operating Officer at Schweiger Dermatology Group. “For us, the mission is simple: an appointment when you need one.”

Turn existing patient demand into more booked appointments

Reaching patients across the many places they search for care is only part of the equation. Practices also need to make it frictionless for patients who come directly to their websites and phone lines to easily book with them. Zocdoc’s survey found that 1 in 3 patients would rather find a different provider than wait on hold for even a minute.

Zocdoc’s Practice Solutions brings its real-time booking technology directly to providers’ own channels, with front-office tools designed to convert more patient demand while reducing work for staff. Practice Solutions includes branded Website Scheduling, Patient Communications, Intake & Insurance Verification, and Zo, Zocdoc’s AI Phone Assistant. 

Practices using Zocdoc’s upgraded website scheduling have already seen website bookings increase by an average of 25–30%, and advanced reporting and analytics also show practices where appointments are coming from and which channels are driving their growth.

As patients continue to start their search for care in more places, Zocdoc is inviting every provider to join and become discoverable and bookable for patients everywhere, no matter where their search begins.

Learn more and join here: https://www.zocdoc.com/business