To Better Support Medicare and Medicaid Beneficiaries, Zocdoc Launches Search and Booking for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) on its Marketplace

PR Newswire

As the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) expiration approaches, the company is deeply discounting its rates for FQHCs, helping underserved patients more easily access high quality, affordable care

NEW YORK, April 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zocdoc, the leading healthcare marketplace that makes it easy for people to find and book in-person or virtual care across +200 specialties and +12k insurance plans, today announced that it is introducing Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) on its marketplace. FQHCs are primary care health clinics that focus on providing quality care to underserved patient populations, regardless of their ability to pay for care. The addition of this new type of care organization to Zocdoc will make it easier for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and other disenfranchised patients, to seamlessly find and book care.

"Zocdoc was founded with a mission to give power to the patient, and this mission includes all patients — not just the well-to-do or commercially insured," said Oliver Kharraz, M.D., Zocdoc founder and CEO. "We are proud to bring more FQHCs on to our marketplace to further accelerate access to high quality, affordable care for patients and communities that need it most."

Since the start of the pandemic and the issuance of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), Medicaid enrollment increased by nearly 30%, bringing the total number of Americans covered by Medicaid to more than 90 million. But with the PHE set to expire in May, millions of Medicaid beneficiaries will either need to re-enroll or find other paths to care.

With access to affordable, quality care at risk for so many Americans, Zocdoc began a concerted effort to bring more FQHCs on to its marketplace. To further support this, the company is offering deeply discounted rates for any FQHCs that would like to list their facilities and real-time availability on Zocdoc. As part of a small pilot program, Zocdoc has already signed up FQHCs in New York, Texas and Michigan.

Spring Branch Community Health Center (SBCHC) in Texas is one of Zocdoc's FQHC pilot clients. Since 2003, this organization has provided quality, affordable medical care, mental health and dental care to the underserved and uninsured communities of Spring Branch and West Houston.

"We know that access to care is one of the biggest barriers facing patients, and we decided to join Zocdoc to make our providers even more accessible to residents throughout our community," said Michael Bsaibes, SBCHC COO. "Zocdoc has helped us alleviate call center volumes and is expanding our access points to more patients as we look to bring on even more providers to serve our community."

Another early FQHC pilot client, La Casa de Salud, offers bilingual primary care and behavioral health services to patients throughout the Bronx, NY, regardless of their ability to pay. They accept Medicaid, Medicare, Managed Care plans and private commercial plans, and also have a Sliding Fee Scale Program which offers discounts to low income and uninsured patients.

"As we expanded our presence in the Bronx, Zocdoc was a great way to market our services and availability to people seeking care in our community," said Lauren Mendenhall, Executive Director of La Casa de Salud. "Zocdoc presented us with an opportunity to increase visibility and access to patients we had not been able to reach through our traditional marketing methods."

Zocdoc has long served this patient population. In 2022 alone, roughly 15% of bookings on its platform were made by a federally funded beneficiary. Zocdoc users booked in-network appointments using more than 1,200 different Medicaid and Medicare plans, for care across more than 170 different medical specialties. Today, more than 85% of providers (excluding mental health) on Zocdoc's marketplace accept Medicare or Medicaid.

While patients wait an average of 26 days to see a physician (and longer for those seeking in-network Medicaid care), the typical appointment on Zocdoc occurs within 24-72 hours – including for Medicaid beneficiaries. Faster access to care is more affordable care. People who are not able to access care are more likely to end up in the E.R. where it is 12x as expensive than being treated at a physician's office. It is no surprise that these visits are more likely to occur among those who are socioeconomically vulnerable. In addition to overutilization of the costly E.R., an inability to access care leads to worse outcomes and higher costs for patients.

If you are an FQHC who is interested in joining Zocdoc, you can learn more at zocdoc.com/enterprise.

About Zocdoc

Zocdoc is a leading digital healthcare marketplace for in-person or virtual care. Each month, millions of people use our free service, via Zocdoc.com or the Zocdoc app, to find in-network doctors, instantly book in-person or virtual appointments, read reviews from verified users, get reminders for upcoming appointments and preventive checkups, and more. With a mission to give power to the patient, Zocdoc's platform delivers the accessible and simple experience they expect and deserve.

Zocdoc contact:
Jessica Aptman[email protected]

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