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Since the new pricing model, $35 per new patient booking (finder's fee) and some detail on this first as a provider you set up a monthly budget of say $300 and if a patient books that $35 is subtracted from your budget until your budget is down to $0 at which point you will no longer be found on Zocdoc until your budget is replenished the next month... so this model is doing a huge disservice to both provider and patient.
Patients may not see the most seasoned and well reviewed doctors on the site as their monthly allotted budget burns quicker than those with poorer reviewed ones leaving patients to only choose from, well, the rest. Also, as a patient if you made an error in booking, like let's say you selected the wrong plan and you're doctor doesn't accept it... the doctor will not be as inclined to clarify your error (due to booking fees and budget restraints mentioned above) prior to treatment leaving you susceptible to out of network charges, that could be financially devastating. After all, you the patient chose the insurance.
Also, doctors are now choosing not to advertise certain insurance plans as their finder's fee eats well into the total cost of the reimbursement. Most patient's only see a provider when needed, so doctor's will do away with lower paying insurer's from the site as taking on someone with say GHI or Emblemhealth just isn't worth it when your total reimbursement is $45 and you have to pay zocdoc back the $35 finder's fee. And, yes, they say you establish a patient bond and you will receive money over the lifetime of the patient's visits upon your practice, well patient's just come when they really, REALLY have to. Don't hold your breath for that doctor-patient bond to pay off. So dropping certain plans from their site now is only logical.
And providers, you're getting the rawest of deals. If the patient cancels more than 24 hours after the booking, you get charged, regardless of the reason. Whether a patient has a gripe with you / your staff or is just acting juvenile in nature and is unknowing of the fees or has a bit of OCD with regards to technology or is even waiting to see if their condition disappears by the weekend and proceeds with a booking and cancels, you're paying for it. Still worth it? Their sales team says yes, many more practitioners are already saying no.
Zocdoc, you blew it!
Kalumin B.'s review of Zocdoc earned 4 Very Helpful votes
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Hello Kalumin,
We’d like to address your concerns and ensure you have an accurate understanding of how our platform works:
1. Providers are not required to set caps. In fact, the majority of Zocdoc providers participating in our new model have not set spend caps, thus they do not have a limit on the number of new patient bookings they may receive each month.
2. All providers must comply with our Community Standards which include maintaining an accurate, up-to-date list of in-network insurances their practice accepts on their Zocdoc profile at all times. Additionally, if a patient is booking out-of-network, our platform has warnings in place alerting them to that fact prior to booking.
3. Regarding the patient-provider bond, we find that Zocdoc users value the continuity of care. When rebooking in the same specialty, +70% choose to return to the same provider.
Please give us a call at (866) 962-3621 if you’d like to discuss or have any questions. - The Zocdoc Service Team