Electronic Health Reporter

NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — ZocDoc, a service that helps patients receive faster access to care and optimizes doctors’ schedules, today released its second annual U.S. Health Checkup. Millions of patients each month use ZocDoc.com or the free ZocDoc apps to find nearby, in-network doctors and dentists, see their real-time availability, and instantly book appointments online. These online bookings have generated the country’s largest database of patient behavior, and ZocDoc tapped this information to share its insights into this year’s top health trends.

ZocDoc’s 2013 U.S. Health Checkup explored topics such as locations with the shortest and longest in-office wait times, markets that were the most proactive about their health, trends in online physician reviews, how male and female patient behavior differs, and many more. All findings are based on the percentage of total appointments booked via ZocDoc in 2013, and highlights include:

Geographic Trends

• Austin was most proactive in overall health, as measured by preventive appointment bookings.
• San Francisco and Miami were respectively home to the most proactive men and women, as measured by preventive appointment bookings.
• Denver patients made the most OB-GYN appointments.
• Portland patients made the most allergy appointments and were also the most skin-conscious, as measured by dermatology appointment bookings.
• San Francisco patients were best at maintaining their dental health, as measured by dentist appointment bookings.
• Boston ranked the highest for eye health, as measured by eye doctor appointment bookings.
• Northern New Jersey patients made the most dietician and nutritionist appointments.
• Detroit patients made the most cosmetic appointments, and also booked the most appointments via their mobile devices.

Online Physician Review Trends

• The national average rating of a ZocDoc physician was 4.45 out of 5 stars.
  • Women rated doctors slightly higher than men, were less extreme with their star ratings, and left more comments with their ratings.
  • Men reviewed doctors more frequently and were slightly more forgiving on wait time.
• Portland and San Antonio were two of the most vocal markets; Portland residents left the most ratings and San Antonio residents left the most comments with their ratings.
• Northern New Jersey was most pleased with their doctors, giving them the highest average rating in the country at 4.86 out of 5 stars.

Appointment Time Trends & Tips

• Most appointments were booked online between 11:30 AM and 12:00 PM – a time when doctors’ offices are typically getting ready to close for lunch.
• The most popular appointment times were weekdays at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM.
  • Specifically, men preferred Friday at 10:00 AM, while women preferred Monday at 2:00 PM.
• The most popular day to see a doctor was Tuesday and the least popular day was Friday.
  • Tuesday was also the day with the most last-minute openings, making it a great day to secure an urgent appointment.
• Seattle had the shortest in-office wait time, while Fort Myers had the longest.
• Men attended more night and weekend appointments, while Long Island residents attended twice as many after-hour appointments than patients in other markets.
• January was the most popular month to book an appointment.

“We’re honored that over the past year, patients all across the country have turned to ZocDoc for so many of their healthcare needs,” said ZocDoc founder & CEO Cyrus Massoumi. “We’re excited to share these patient-generated insights, as we think it provides an interesting view of the country’s health behaviors in 2013. We look forward to sharing this annual report in years to come, and we expect the findings will become increasingly robust as we continue to expand ZocDoc’s functionality and geographic footprint.”

To see the full report and infographic based on this data, visit the ZocDoc blog.

About ZocDoc
More than four million patients use ZocDoc each month to find a nearby doctor or dentist and instantly book an appointment 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 has raised $95 million in investments to date, is currently available in more than 1,900 cities, 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. A Spanish-language version called ZocDoc en Espanol is also available (espanol.zocdoc.com; iPhone and Android).