Dive Brief:
- Online scheduling company Zocdoc is now letting AI agents search for providers and book appointments on behalf of patients.
- Agents must register with Zocdoc to gain access and obtain patient consent before booking or canceling an appointment on its online platform, the company said Wednesday. Google Gemini, Amazon Health AI, and text- and call-based AI agent Instinct are already connected, and other agents can apply for access with or without a human’s help.
- Zocdoc is taking a bet on agentic AI at a time when the industry is split on how to move forward with the technology. “I would say that welcoming agents the way we are is a bit of a contrarian move,” said Dr. Oliver Kharraz, founder and CEO of Zocdoc.
Dive Insight:
Some health tech companies are embracing AI agents with open arms while others sound alarms about privacy and governance risks. Zocdoc falls in the former camp, though the company touts its safeguards, including that it requires explicit patient consent before booking appointments.
Zocdoc says traffic from AI agents on its site has grown nearly 30-fold since July, reflecting a consumer appetite for AI. Embracing them, rather than shunning them, could help the company grow, according to the announcement.
AI agents can act autonomously, making complex multi-step decisions and solving problems with little human intervention. When Zocdoc approves an agent — through an application that can be filled out by a human or AI — it can plug into Zocdoc’s AI backend, enabling it to sift through the company’s provider directory.
It can then check a clinician’s availability, verify insurance and book an appointment, checking in with the patient before making any final decisions. The companies that run the agents have the ability to monetize the integration, incentivizing them to participate.
In return for access, Zocdoc expects agents to obtain patient consent and protect patient and provider data, according to the announcement. Agents are not allowed to train themselves based on the data, resell it or republish it. Zocdoc did not specify how it plans to ensure that agents respect that agreement.
To Kharraz, Zocdoc’s existing infrastructure was already primed for the addition of AI agents.
“A lot of the things that we're doing predate the AI era in a really deterministic way,” he said.
Zocdoc already has a network of verified providers through integrations with provider electronic health records and scheduling systems. Letting agents plug into its infrastructure rather than scraping the open web allows it to improve accuracy and bring more patients to the platform in the process.
“Our mission is to give power to the patient. If they want to delegate the booking to an AI agent, then we should give them the frictionless access to care that they want,” Kharraz said, who wrote an open letter to agents “welcoming” them to the platform.
The move is part of Zocdoc’s broader expansion strategy as it looks to scale its tech infrastructure. In September, the company launched a platform called Care Access Network that embeds Zocdoc’s scheduling tech into third-party apps, insurer websites and AI tools. Earlier this month, it bought Sohar Health, a startup that provides automatic insurance benefits eligibility checks. It was the first acquisition in Zocdoc’s nearly 20-year history.
It also comes amid a broader push for connectedness across healthcare. Last year, the CMS launched its health tech ecosystem initiative, aimed at increasing the availability of digital health tools and improving interoperability. Zocdoc participates in the ecosystem, having pledged to provide personalized AI-powered support to patients.
