Zocdoc

Zocdoc, Inc. is a New York City-based company that operates an online service for finding and booking medical and dental appointments, both in person and by telemedicine. Patients search by symptom, specialty, visit reason or provider name, filtered by location, insurance and wait time, then view real-time open appointment slots and book them directly. The platform also serves as a physician and dentist rating and comparison database, with verified patient reviews, provider photos, education and personnel information, and estimated in-office wait times. Zocdoc says it aggregates in-person and virtual appointments across a nationwide provider network spanning more than 200 specialties and over 12,000 insurance plans.

On the provider side, Zocdoc sells a set of products that combine patient demand generation with scheduling. These include Bookable Profiles (a "Care Access Network" that adds direct booking to listings on Google, Apple, Healthgrades, Yelp, insurance directories and other sites), the Zocdoc Marketplace on zocdoc.com and its app, website scheduling widgets, patient engagement and outbound campaigns, online intake forms, appointment reminders, review collection, performance reporting, and a HIPAA-compliant video visit service. The company also markets Zo, an AI phone assistant for automating phone scheduling, listed as coming soon. Practice-facing features integrate with providers' existing calendars through EHR and practice management system connections.

The service is free for patients; providers pay to be listed and to advertise open appointment slots. Zocdoc has historically served independent practices as well as medical groups, MSOs and DSOs, corporate practices and health systems, with customer examples including The Dermatology Specialists, Dental Care Alliance and Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Founding story

Zocdoc was founded in New York City in 2007 by Cyrus Massoumi, Nick Ganju and Dr. Oliver Kharraz. Massoumi and Kharraz met as consultants at McKinsey; Kharraz is a physician from a long family line of doctors who had built and sold an internet company in 1994 during his medical training in Germany, while Ganju had held CTO roles at technology companies and had previously shared a desk with Massoumi at Trilogy Software. The idea came after Massoumi ruptured an eardrum on a flight to New York in 2007 and struggled for days to find an available local doctor's appointment. Massoumi served as the company's first CEO.

Business model

Patients use Zocdoc for free; healthcare providers pay to list and advertise their available appointment slots. Historically the platform was sold on a paid subscription basis to medical practices; in January 2019 the company announced a shift in some markets from subscription pricing to a per-referral fee. The company's current provider pricing has three tiers: a free Basic tier offering a verified Zocdoc profile and direct booking on a practice's own listings with real-time EHR-synced availability; a Growth tier charging a new-patient booking fee with no monthly platform fee, adding Marketplace exposure, distribution to partner sites and optional Sponsored Results; and an Advanced tier charging a new-patient booking fee plus $250 per provider per month, adding customized website scheduling, automated outbound patient campaigns and the Zo AI phone assistant.

Revenue comes from healthcare providers through a mix of new-patient booking (referral) fees, per-provider monthly subscription fees for advanced practice solutions, and paid visibility products such as Sponsored Results. The 2019 move from subscription to referral-fee pricing in some markets drew concern from some doctors that a per-customer fee would be harder to recoup unless patients returned for additional visits.

Traction

Zocdoc grew from a Manhattan dentist-booking service to over 30 cities between 2011 and 2013; by 2014 it covered 40% of US markets across 2,000 cities with five million users booking appointments monthly, and by 2017 reported more than six million monthly patients. The company said its 2019 pricing change produced a 50% increase in providers on the platform in transitioned states and that revenue grew 35% year over year in 2019. Its provider site cites 250,000+ providers, 200+ specialties, 175+ integrations and coverage in 50 states, and it reports that a surge in bookable Dental Care Alliance providers drove a 750% increase in new patient bookings. A Zocdoc-run COVID-19 vaccine scheduler built with Mount Sinai booked over 100,000 appointments, peaking at 100 bookings per minute.

Latest developments

Zocdoc's provider platform is organized into three solutions - Bookable Profiles / Care Access Network, the Zocdoc Marketplace, and Practice Solutions - with tiered Basic, Growth and Advanced pricing. Zo, an AI phone assistant intended to automate 24/7 phone scheduling, and automated outbound patient campaigns are listed as coming soon, and part of the Care Access Network offering is delivered in partnership with WellHive. In 2024 the company launched an advanced partner program for EHR and practice management vendors.