DEVOPSdigest

Zocdoc announced the launch of Zocdoc for Developers, Zocdoc’s first-ever public API platform.

For the past 15 years, Zocdoc has developed distinctive technology that serves as a connective tissue between healthcare’s most fragmented and complex systems. Now, with open access to license the same standardized, scalable technology Zocdoc created to power its comprehensive Marketplace, used by millions of people each month, developers can create custom solutions to digitize the nation’s patient flow and streamline operations.

The first set of features made possible by Zocdoc for Developers will leverage Zocdoc Syncs, and allows providers to seamlessly integrate their back-end scheduling software with Zocdoc’s technology to surface their real-time appointment availability and facilitate instant, online booking. The patented, flexible technology serves as a central point of connection between hundreds of disparate EHR and PMS systems used by providers of all specialties, sizes, and networks. After successfully powering tens of millions of transactions, this proven technology is poised to unlock and accelerate innovation from third-party developers, making healthcare work better.

“In an unnecessarily fragmented healthcare industry, Zocdoc has always served as a unifier,“ said Oliver Kharraz, M.D., Zocdoc founder and CEO. “I am proud to launch our first-ever API platform, which makes Zocdoc’s unique technology available to partners to develop the bespoke solutions they need to solve some of healthcare’s toughest problems. As both a technologist and physician, I am looking forward to seeing the transformative solutions that the best and brightest minds in healthcare will build on top of Zocdoc’s core technology.”

The first use case, Care Navigation, will bring efficiency and trackability to the hundreds of millions of annual provider-to-provider referrals in the United States. Healthcare spending is growing rapidly, passing $4T per year, with 8% being spent on administration. This solution, which will bring efficiency to provider-to-provider referrals, will help to drastically reduce administrative costs, and ensure that referrals are successfully scheduled with the right provider.

While more than a third of U.S. patients are referred to a specialist each year, between 25-50% of referring providers do not know whether their referrals result in their patients actually attending an appointment. In addition to this lack of visibility and the resulting care gaps, the patient referral process is inefficient and costly. Care coordinators, who primarily facilitate referral scheduling today, spend hours scheduling each referral, generally by phone.

Care Navigation will enable care coordinators to view providers’ real-time appointment availability, regardless of their specialty, insurance plan, or EHR, and then digitally book appointments on behalf of patients. This will improve the patient experience, while streamlining care organizations’ cumbersome and costly referral processes.

By using Zocdoc’s technology to improve Care Navigation:

- Developers can build a referral tool for a partner – for example, a large provider group, health technology company, payor, or health system

- That partner’s care coordinators can use that tool, powered by Zocdoc’s API, to view provider availability

- Care coordinators can then, for the first time, instantly book an appointment online with a specialist provider who has signed up to receive referrals