Health Care Is Now a Click Away

The old days of searching through doctors' listings, calling offices and waiting on the phone trying to find a suitable appointment (which was probably a month out in most cases) has gone the way of dialup internet.

ZocDoc has arrived, a free health-care scheduling website that also incorporates smartphone technology to allow users to search for any type of doctor by specialty or insurance plan while simultaneously showing open appointment times, which in many cases are same day.

Local health care professionals such as Dr. Anna Liu are finding ZocDoc to be very helpful in recruiting new patients. Liu's family medicine practice has experienced a growth of four to five new patients a month after using ZocDoc just two months. She said she would highly recommend the system for anyone looking to simplify the appointment process and build up their patient base.

"It works really well," Liu said. "I like that patients can log in, find their appointment and they add their information so I have all that ahead of time and can also verify insurances quickly."

Dr. Quan Nguyen has practices in dermatology in both Fountain Valley and Laguna Niguel. He said his new patients are surprised to find him so close because quite a few travel as far away as Los Angeles to receive skin care for cancer as well as beauty treatments. His success is even higher, with three to four new patients per week on average, which is helped by listing both of his practices on ZocDoc. If patients has a critical need to see him, they have the benefit of checking calendars for both of his offices.

All ZocDoc health care specialists are all completely checked out by a group that checks necessary background information such as memberships and board certifications. Health care specialists who join ZocDoc pay a fee of $250 monthly to be listed and for the software needed to link their calendars online. The fee is generally recouped within a few new patient visits.