Elation Health and Zocdoc are transforming how primary care practices operate and grow by empowering providers with the tools they need to deliver exceptional, individualized care. Elation, an innovative electronic health record (EHR) platform, is designed specifically for primary care providers, enabling them to deliver personalized, high-quality care while efficiently managing their practices. Zocdoc is the leading healthcare marketplace that connects millions of patients with in-network doctors, making it easier for patients to find and book appointments.
Zocdoc and Elation first partnered in 2023, with Elation becoming a founding Advanced Integration Partner in 2024 as part of Zocdoc’s Integration Partner Program. Together, they share a mission to enhance the patient-provider experience through advanced integrations, new features, and product enhancements that streamline workflows. We sat down with Elation to discuss their predictions on the future of primary care and the healthcare industry as a whole.
1. The future of primary care rests on a primary-care-led health care system.
Primary care is unique in health care. It cannot be managed the same way as other parts of health care where the emphasis has rightly been on streamlining and cutting waste from a bloated system. A unique relationship between physicians and patients built on trust remains at the heart of primary care’s success.
2. Improving primary care means solving for the broken economics of healthcare.
Zocdoc enhances Elation’s mission by providing primary care providers with the tools they need to stay independent and thrive. One of the biggest challenges independent primary care providers face today is the broken economics of healthcare. There is widespread agreement that the United States must expand and improve primary care to achieve better health outcomes at a lower cost, as Elation’s CEO and co-founder Kyna Fong emphasized in her feature for Harvard Business Review: The U.S. Health Care System Isn’t Built for Primary Care.
However, current efforts to wring “value” from primary care by focusing on diagnostic algorithms and quality metrics reveal fundamental misunderstandings of its true purpose, notes Elation. Attempts to apply processes and technology designed for subspecialty care to the delivery of primary care have proven insufficient to support the complex work of the primary care team.
At this pivotal moment in healthcare, many legacy technology leaders are struggling to keep pace with the rapid evolution of payment and delivery models. Built for a fee-for-service world, their systems often lag behind the innovations needed to support value-based care. Elation, however, is intent on leading the charge in care delivery innovation, ensuring that EHR technology evolves in tandem with the shifting payment landscape. By placing the clinician-patient relationship at the center of care, Elation addresses some of healthcare’s biggest problems, removing unnecessary cognitive and administrative burdens through intelligent automation designed around clinical needs.
3. The payment landscape will shift toward value-based care.
Our healthcare system is on the brink of a major shift in how payments are handled, says Elation. Traditionally, payments were focused on treating illness, but now the focus is moving toward keeping patients healthy, reducing costs, and improving outcomes. Primary care is set to lead this change.
“New value-based payment models prioritize cost savings tied to better health outcomes, where profit comes from preventing expensive hospitalizations and interventions. This makes primary care essential for success.” –– Kyna Fong, CEO of Elation Health
Innovative primary care models are emerging, supported by technology and multidisciplinary teams, focused on what patients really need. These models break away from the volume-driven incentives of traditional health systems, allowing primary care to do what’s best for patients, similar to independent practices but on a larger scale. Additionally, primary care networks, backed by organizations that take on financial risk, provide the resources and support needed for practices to adapt to these new payment systems.
4. Artificial intelligence is here to stay.
If AI tools can help clinicians work more efficiently and focus on what they do best, they could care for more patients by reducing administrative burdens. This would have a significant impact on independent practices. For instance, if AI frees up an extra hour or two each day for clinicians, the benefits are substantial. Ultimately, while AI has the potential to lower costs, improve quality, and streamline healthcare workflows, it’s crucial to proceed thoughtfully and always prioritize the patient experience.
5. Changes to the medical education system are key.
We must also implement significant changes to the medical education system to ensure an adequately sized, trained, and scoped primary care workforce to sustain us in the future. We must train more students, fund more residency slots in primary care specialties, offer medical education debt relief in exchange for a commitment to a career in primary care, and train future primary care physicians in the community settings where they will ultimately serve.
6. EHR technology must continue to innovate.
Many of the legacy leaders in the technology industry traditionally built for the fee-for-service payment world are facing a daunting challenge: payment and delivery models are innovating faster than their technology can evolve to support them. Technology innovators should be intent on catching up to the leading edge of care delivery innovation, inspired by the shifting payment landscape. We must address healthcare’s biggest problems and find solutions which place the clinician-patient relationship at the center of care.
Clinicians have plenty of data but lack actionable insights, and they are overwhelmed by unnecessary administrative tasks. Intelligent automation, designed with clinical needs in mind, can help alleviate these burdens.
Through continued innovation and a focus on the clinician-patient relationship, both Elation and Zocdoc are helping to build a more sustainable and effective healthcare system. As the industry shifts toward payment transformation (where the focus is on reducing costs and improving outcomes by keeping patients healthy) and the adoption of AI to relieve administrative burdens, Elation is at the forefront of these trends, offering solutions that help primary care providers stay ahead of the curve. With a focus on value-based care, Elation joined Zocdoc to help providers navigate this landscape by offering solutions that prioritize patient outcomes over volume-based incentives.
If you’re already an Elation user interested in setting up the free integration, please reach out to the support teams at either Zocdoc or Elation and they can quickly and easily set it up. If you’re not already on Zocdoc, click here to get started.