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Zocdoc: Timeliness is key patient self-scheduling preference

In addition to timeliness, the location was important to consumers using patient self-scheduling software.

Consumer preferences for booking appointments using patient self-scheduling software continue to evolve, as the latest review from online booking website Zocdoc reveals that patients want doctors who can see them soon, close to home and both virtually and in person.

In Zocdoc's 2024 "What Patients Want" report, the company revealed subtle but key changes in how patients access their healthcare. Understanding these changes might help healthcare organizations strategize to support a better patient experience and maintain market share.

In addition to patient self-scheduling software trends, the report outlined the overall state of patient activation, which Zocdoc measures using a 1,000-person survey assessing patient care access, patient control of care and patient-provider relationships.

Who is booking online medical appointments?

Similar to last year's survey, the report showed that women are more likely to use online self-scheduling options than men, with 66% of Zocdoc users being female compared to 34% male.

Nearly half of online bookers are millennials, while 22% are Generation Z. Far fewer users are Generation X or baby boomers.

In terms of insurance coverage, most patients booking via Zocdoc had commercial insurance (84%), while 8% had Medicaid, 4% had Medicare and 3% were self-pay or uninsured.

Notably, online booking is largely happening on mobile phones (68%) compared to desktop applications (32%), signaling a need for provider offices to enable mobile-optimized booking.

Patients prioritize in-network docs

Far and away, the most important provider characteristic online bookers look for is being in-network, with nine in 10 patients booking with in-network providers. Only 8% are booking with out-of-network providers, and 5% are self-pay patients.

This remained true even for mental health appointments, which have a public perception of being hard to obtain in-network. A notable 89% of people booking for therapy booked in-network via Zocdoc, the report showed.

In addition to in-network status, patients are looking for timely and convenient access to care, the report furthered. Currently, the average appointment wait time is 26 days. But online bookers continued to prioritize speedy appointment access. A third of appointments happened within 2 days of booking and half took place within 4 days.

Of course, these wait times vary by specialty. For example, 96% of urgent care visits happened within 8 days of booking, while only 52% of OB-GYN appointments did.

There were other factors that swayed patients' decisions to book, or at least with whom to book.

Women strongly favor booking appointments with female clinicians, with two-thirds of female patient bookings happening with female providers. Clinician gender was less important to men, although half of male patients still booked with a male provider.

This trend could be less a function of preference and more a function of convenience; there are far more female providers offering their services on Zocdoc than male providers. It might simply be more difficult for male patients to book with a male provider.

This trend also depends on other factors, like patient age and specialty. For example, younger women prioritized visits with female providers more than older women. Female patients also prioritized female OB-GYNs, while male patients preferred male urologists and orthopedic surgeons.

Other factors that led to more patient bookings included having a provider profile picture, with these providers getting 2.8 times as many bookings as those with none. Similar trends emerged with languages. Providers who said they spoke at least two languages received nearly double the amount of bookings as those who said they only spoke one.

Finally, having a higher star rating led to more appointment bookings.

That much might be obvious, the report indicated, but it's not just the number of stars; it's the number of reviews total that can make a difference. Providers with more than 50 reviews received 10 times more bookings than those with fewer reviews. Those with more than 100 reviews received 27 times more appointment bookings, the report showed.

Patients seek emerging treatments such as GLP-1s

The most common reasons for medical appointments booked online might not be surprising. They include an annual physical, annual pap smear/GYN exam, dermatology consultation, illness, hyperactive disorder, anxiety, dental cleaning, routine eye exam, psychiatry consultation and dental consultation.

What's more, the most commonly booked specialties on Zocdoc remained predictable in 2024, with primary care, dermatology, OB-GYN, dental, mental health, optometry, podiatry, orthopedics and chiropractors rounding out the top spots.

But the Zocdoc researchers also observed an interesting increase in appointments that could be linked to some social media trends.

Not unsurprisingly, the researchers observed an influx of appointments booked to explore GLP-1s, with increases observed for both men and women. But they also clocked increases in sleep medicine appointments, potentially due to the "sleepy girl mocktail" trend.

Increases in veneer appointments, jaw pain bookings and blue light therapy appointments could also be linked to social media trends.

There's seasonality to medical appointment scheduling

Looking at overall yearly trends, Zocdoc reported more appointments booked in August and September than in the remainder of the year. This could be tied to school physicals. Unsurprisingly, holidays are not busy appointment days.

The busiest day for booking (not having an appointment) was January 2. The researchers posited that more people were scheduling appointments after relaxing during a holiday week. This could also be related to New Year's resolutions.

Importantly, patients want to be able to log onto their online appointment scheduling system whenever they want. Around 42% used online tools to book their appointments when an office was closed, while 58% booked during typical office hours. This split reaffirms the need to have online booking options to fit the needs of all patient preferences.

The most popular day for an appointment to take place was Monday, with most appointments occurring earlier in the week. The most popular time of day for an appointment was 11 a.m., followed by 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. This data might help office administrators and leaders plan staffing and resources to ensure patients can get appointments when they want them and the clinic can withstand these peak hours.

Patients double down on in-person care access

In 2024, patients continued their shift back to in-person care for nearly every specialty besides mental health, with more than 90% of patients opting for in-person care for nearly every specialty. Exceptions include urgent care, in which 75% of patients opted for in-person care.

Mental healthcare is also a major outlier, reflecting other industry reports showing that telehealth has proven enormously effective for this specialty.

According to Zocdoc data, only a quarter of psychology patients prefer in-person care, and a fifth for psychiatry. Telehealth remains favorable for these specialties.

All said, virtual visits comprised only 12% of all bookings in 2024, down from 18% in 2023. When mental health is excluded from those numbers, that translates to only 5% of online bookings being for virtual care. And even when patients do book a virtual visit, they are likely to book an in-person follow-up, with nearly a fifth of patients doing so.

However, although patients want in-person visits, they want them to happen close to home. Four in five in-person appointments were within 20 miles of a patient's home. Proximity to home is even important for telehealth visits; nearly half of telehealth bookings were with providers within 20 miles of a patient's home.

This trend was particularly salient for what Zocdoc deemed more "hands-on" specialties like physical therapy or sports medicine.

Despite the extreme preference for in-person appointments, Zocdoc noted that patients want a provider who can do both, potentially signaling a need for provider flexibility. Providers who offer both in-person and virtual visits get 48% more bookings than those who only offer in-person visits. They get 224% more bookings than virtual-only providers.

Patient experiences trend downward

In addition to insights about patient self-scheduling habits, the Zocdoc report showed a modest downturn in the patient experience, as evidenced by the company's Patient Empowerment Index. This index looks at patient access to care, comfort with providers and comfort over one's own healthcare and scores them on a scale from -80 to 120.

This year's Patient Empowerment Index comes in at 55.8, which is down by 3.1 points from last year.

More specifically, the researchers found that around 80% of patients think they mostly have control over their healthcare, but a fifth say they have little to no control.

The researchers also reported a slight dip in ease of healthcare access. Although patients still say it's easy to access healthcare, that number is less than last year. In 2023, two-thirds of respondents said it's easy to access healthcare. Only 60% said the same this year.

Similarly, 63.6% of patients say they're comfortable with their providers, but that number is 5.8% smaller than it was last year.

These numbers signal a small dip in the overall patient experience. By understanding and listening to patient needs, including in the appointment scheduling process, healthcare providers can reduce friction points for patients. Ideally, this can improve the overall patient experience.

Sara Heath has been covering news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.

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