ZocDoc: One Doc at a Time

After being aware of ZocDoc since launch I finally got a chance to talk to founders Cyrus Massoumi and Oliver Kharraz, MD. They pitched it as “Open Table for healthcare.”

Other than general, horizontal review sites and parent/mom sites (e.g., Baby Center) the only other site I could think of that solicits reviews of doctors is Steve Case’s Revolution Health. However, there are few actual reviews on the site that I could find.

ZocDoc by contrast only solicits reviews from actual patients after they’ve booked appointments through the site. I was told by Kharraz that 25% of first-time patients do write reviews, which is a much-better-than-average figure for user-generated content sites.

In one sense, ZocDoc competes with HourTown, Booking Angel, Libersy and Genbook because it provides online booking. It charges a fee when bookings are made. However, it’s really competing with other health sites and consumers destination sites that offer recommendations for health care providers. But because of its methodology it prevents gaming — doctors and their families are unable to write reviews — and brings a potentially higher level of trust to its ratings.

Also, by combining reviews with online booking, ZocDoc has removed a potential barrier for first-time patients in doing online appointments. That is because, in absence of quality indicators, some first-time patients might want to have a phone conversation before committing to an appointment. In fact Massoumi told me that they had an 800 number and a call center when the site launched but have since removed it given how few people were using it relative to online bookings.

Massoumi and Kharraz are only focused on Manhattan and won’t say when they’re going to roll out more broadly. They want to get that market right before going to others, which is the right strategy.