Zocdoc is on a mission to connect with all electronic health record (EHR) and practice management system (PMS) vendors that have a significant market share, CEO Oliver Kharraz said in a recent interview.
His company — which allows patients to search for in-network providers near them and book appointments online for in-person or virtual care — recently struck a partnership with Elation Health to help close in on that goal.
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Elation is a San Francisco-based EHR vendor that sells its technology to primary care providers. About 25,000 clinicians use Elation’s technology to deliver care to more than 12 million patients, CEO Kyna Fong declared.
Now, any provider who uses Elation’s EHR can integrate their calendar into Zocdoc’s platform — meaning that the millions of patients who search for care via Zocdoc each month will have access to these providers’ real-time appointment availability. When a patient books a visit through the platform with a provider using Elation, Zocdoc will automatically add the appointment to the provider’s schedule in their EHR.
This seamlessness alleviates some of primary care providers’ administrative burden, which is important given they are facing soaring burnout rates, Fong pointed out.
“This partnership between Zocdoc and Elation makes it easy for PCPs to reach new patients, fill their calendars, and ultimately grow, thrive and maintain their independence. This integration allows them to do this in a seamless way that makes it easier for their staff to manage,” she explained.
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When a provider integrates its calendar with Zocdoc, patients gain real-time access to all last-minute cancellations or reschedules that have become open for other patients to book. This helps fill providers’ calendars as well as accelerate patients’ access to care — enabling the typical Zocdoc user to see a doctor within 24-72 hours of booking their appointment, Kharraz said.
Same-day patient cancellations are incredibly expensive for primary care practices, and maintaining the right amount of schedule density is often key to running a profitable practice. But the reality is that primary care practices across the country face thousands of same-day cancellations each day, causing staff to scramble to fill these appointments, Fong noted. By integrating its calendar with Zocdoc, Elation “increases appointment supply without any risk,” she said.
These types of integrations also bring more clarity to patients, Kharraz added.
“For patients, almost nothing connects: the place with lists of in-network doctors is different to the one for scheduling, is different to the one for benefits information, is different to the one for payments, is different to the one with outcome data, is different to the one with medical records, and so on,” he declared.
These disjointed systems end up delaying patients’ access to care — the average wait time for a U.S. patient to see a physician is about 26 days, Kharraz pointed out. He noted that these barriers to access lead to emergency room overutilization — where treatment is significantly more expensive than care in an ambulatory setting — or people delaying or forgoing care entirely.
Fong agreed with Kharraz, adding that it’s been well documented that delayed access to care contributes to poor health outcomes and higher costs.
“Elation and Zocdoc’s collaboration makes more appointments available to patients to access the right care in a more timely manner, ultimately saving lives as we work together to create an infrastructure that prioritizes the value of early detection,” she said.
The companies said that there is financial aspect to the partnership, as it includes some revenue sharing, but they’re not disclosing details regarding the terms.
Photo: Zocdoc
