Zocdoc Introduces Guided Search, Helping Patients More Confidently Connect with the Right Providers

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Feb 13, 2024, 08:00 ET

Upgraded search makes it easy for patients to select the right provider for their needs and helps providers vet patients to ensure they're a good fit for their practice

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Zocdoc, the leading healthcare marketplace that makes it easy for patients to find and book in-person or virtual care across over 250 specialties and more than 18,000 insurance plans, today introduced Guided Search. This new search experience intuitively provides patients with a more tailored set of results based on their unique care needs so they can select the right provider and book with greater confidence.

Introducing Guided Search

The patient-provider pairing process can be a challenge for both parties. According to a new Zocdoc survey of over 1,000 U.S. patients nationwide, nearly three out of five (57%) say they have shown up to an appointment to find out the doctor wasn't the right fit for their medical needs. At the same time, roughly one in four providers (24%) say they often see new patients who are not the right fit for their medical expertise. Guided Search aims to take the guesswork out of the decision-making process for patients, and it improves the fit of new patients coming to a provider's practice.

With Guided Search, patients no longer need to know whether they're seeking, for example, a psychologist versus psychiatrist, or an optometrist versus ophthalmologist. They just need to know their symptoms and what they're seeking treatment for (e.g. panic attacks, eye floaters), and Guided Search will serve them the most relevant, in-network doctors for their unique needs. Guided Search may also help patients discover more about a provider's scope of practice — for instance, that they can see a dermatologist for hair loss concerns.

"We know that choosing the right provider is very important to patients, but far too often, that decision-making process can feel confusing and overwhelming," said Oliver Kharraz, MD, Zocdoc founder & CEO. "We introduced Guided Search to give patients greater control, more confidence and ultimately peace of mind that they're selecting a provider who is able to see and treat them for their specific needs."

Guided Search not only improves the patient experience, it improves the provider experience as well. A provider's most valuable asset is their time, and Guided Search helps providers vet patients to ensure they are a good fit for the practice and help providers better prepare for visits. In particular, Guided Search:

Increases bookings from patients that providers are able to treat by highlighting all of a providers' areas of care, helping practices reach the patients they want.
Improves confidence that providers can accept every patient, ensuring providers appear in more relevant search results for the visit reasons they list and for care needs that they can treat.
Helps providers better prepare ahead of each appointment by soliciting pertinent information about why a patient is coming in.

Zocdoc is already seeing positive signs that its new search experience is working as intended. In its Beta phase, Guided Search increased search-to-booking conversion rates by up to 14%. Additionally, Guided Search is helping patients find doctors who are best suited to address specific care needs or concerns; for example, the company has seen a +100% increase in users booking appointments for pregnancy care, a +190% increase in users booking dermatologists for cosmetic care, and a +200% increase in users booking dermatologists for hair loss.

The Guided Search launch marks a major advancement in Zocdoc's marketplace provider search and booking functionality. When the company first launched in 2007, it asked users to begin their search by selecting a specialty from an alphabetized list in a drop-down menu. In 2017, Zocdoc moved away from specialty-based search with the launch of Patient-Powered Search, a free-text field using users' natural language inputs. Today, Guided Search builds on Zocdoc's patient-provider scheduling leadership by gathering important context as part of a user's search, ultimately improving the fidelity of the pairing for both patients and providers.

Survey Says…

Zocdoc recently surveyed patients and providers alike to better understand what qualities they're looking for in one other. Among other findings, the results revealed some interesting discrepancies in respective preferences:

Poor fit predicament: Nearly 3 in 5 (57%) of patients say they have shown up to an appointment to find out the doctor wasn't the right match for their medical needs. Nearly a quarter (24%) of providers say they often see new patients that aren't the right match for their medical expertise.
"A good patient" is subjective: Patients believe the most important quality in being a "good patient" is being transparent about their health history, yet only 5% of providers list this as a top quality. Instead, the No. 1 quality providers look for in patients is simply that they are able to treat the patient's health concern.
Relationship red flags: Red flags differ widely between patients and providers. Most patients (55%) say their biggest provider red flag is poor provider communication. The biggest red flag for doctors (49%) is when patients are flaky.
Listen here: 66% of patients would break up with their doctor if they feel they don't take their concerns seriously. On the other hand, only 9% of doctors rate poor listening skills as their top patient red flag.

Patient survey methodology
Zocdoc commissioned Censuswide to collect this data via an online survey of 1,004 U.S. adults (aged 18+) who have been to the doctor in the last 6 months. The survey was fielded Jan. 10 to Jan. 12, 2024. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles. The confidence interval is approximately +/-3.09%.

Provider survey methodology
Zocdoc directly invited healthcare providers on its marketplace to participate in a survey, and nearly 1,000 providers (971) responded. The survey was fielded Jan. 8 to Jan. 16, 2024.

About Zocdoc
Zocdoc is the leading healthcare marketplace that aims to help every patient find and book every type of care. Each month, millions of patients visit Zocdoc.com or use the Zocdoc app to find quality, in-network doctors, see their real-time availability, and instantly book appointments for in-person or virtual care. Zocdoc doesn't just make healthcare easier, it also accelerates patients' access to care with the typical appointment happening within 24 to 72 hours of booking.

While Zocdoc's mission is to give power to the patient, the company supports healthcare providers, too. Doctors across each state, specialty and segment — from solo practitioners to large hospitals and health systems — rely on Zocdoc to grow their practice, at every stage. With Zocdoc, they can reach new patients where they're seeking care, save staff time with tools that integrate into their practice software, and delight their patients through great experiences that keep them coming back. Overall, Zocdoc delivers the seamless, modern healthcare experience patients deserve.

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SOURCE Zocdoc, Inc.