Electronic Health Reporter

 ZocDoc, a service that helps patients receive faster access to care and optimizes doctors’ schedules, announced today plans to bring its online platform to every state in the contiguous U.S. by the end of 2014. Today, ZocDoc covers 40 percent of the U.S. population across 2,000 cities and towns, and more than five million patients use the company’s free service each month. With a mission of improving patients’ access to care, ZocDoc is rapidly growing its footprint in order to ensure patients throughout the country can quickly and easily secure in-network appointments with local physicians.

“Early in ZocDoc’s life, many people said our service would never work outside of New York City,” said ZocDoc founder & CEO Cyrus Massoumi. “We’ve now successfully launched ZocDoc in big cities, suburbs, and rural areas throughout the country, and I’m proud to say that our service works regardless of geography or type of practice. Patients and doctors everywhere have come to rely on our platform, and we’re excited to roll out ZocDoc nationwide over the coming months.”

In addition to ZocDoc’s aggressive geographic expansion plans, the company has also broadened its reach by working with the country’s most forward-thinking hospitals and health systems across 20 different states. In 2013 alone, ZocDoc increased its hospital and health system client base by nearly 200 percent, and over the last year ZocDoc began to facilitate enhanced patient access to major health systems such as BJC HealthCare, Hartford HealthCare, Main Line Health, Meridian Health, and Sentara Healthcare. Additionally, ZocDoc has deepened relationships with existing clients including Adventist Health Partners, MedStar Health, Mount Sinai Health System, NYU Langone Medical Center, Steward Health Care System, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, and Western Connecticut Health Network among many others. Partnerships with innovative health systems who place a high value on providing an exceptional healthcare experience will continue to be a major lever for ZocDoc’s growth.

“ZocDoc is a great online marketplace that allows patients to easily make appointments with participating physicians. In the Boston area, where long wait times are common, ZocDoc highlights many Steward physicians that are booking appointments within the same week,” said Michael Callum, MD, President, Steward Medical Group, a division of the Steward Health Care System. “We are very pleased to partner with ZocDoc. It is one of the ways that we are making sure that patients have access to primary care physicians without having to wait a long time for an appointment.”

“We are excited to be partnering with ZocDoc, which gives consumers in our market area rapid, frictionless access to our physicians,” said Eric R. Wagner, Executive Vice President, External Affairs & Diversified Operations for MedStar Health. “ZocDoc is becoming an integral part of our work to improve access, and our patients love it.”

According to a recent survey by Merritt Hawkins, the national average wait time to see a physician is 18.5 days, and as high as 45 days in cities like Boston. In contrast, the majority of patients who use ZocDoc see a doctor in just 24 – 72 hours. This accelerated access is possible because ZocDoc’s platform reveals the ‘hidden supply’ of care – the 10 to 20 percent of appointments that are cancelled last minute – thereby optimizing doctors’ schedules and offering their availability to patients in real time. At a time when the Affordable Care Act adds millions of patients but no new doctors to the system, ZocDoc’s rapid geographic expansion will help alleviate this supply/demand mismatch of care by making the healthcare marketplace more efficient.

In addition to its geographic footprint and enterprise client growth, ZocDoc will continue to expand the functionality of its service by layering new products and features on top of its core scheduling platform. The company will build upon the success of products like ZocDoc Check-In, which allows patients to fill out their paperwork online prior to their appointment and then saves the information for future appointments with other ZocDoc physicians. Today, more than 80 percent of ZocDoc physicians offer this experience to patients. ZocDoc plans to launch even more innovative products in order to continue to deliver a more seamless healthcare experience for patients and doctors alike.

About ZocDoc
More than five million patients use ZocDoc each month to find a nearby doctor or dentist, read verified reviews and health content, and instantly book appointments online. By revealing the ‘hidden supply’ of appointments, ZocDoc helps patients receive faster access to care and optimizes doctors’ schedules. With ZocDoc Check-In, patients can fill out their paperwork online prior to their appointment, and physicians receive more complete and accurate patient information. ZocDoc is currently available across 2,000 cities and towns, and covers 40 percent of the US population. This service is free for patients via ZocDoc.com or the free ZocDoc app for iPhone and Android.