Zocdoc CEO says patients want convenience and connection

As the CEO and founder of Zocdoc, a website helping patients find physicians, Dr. Oliver Kharraz brings a lot of insight into patient preferences and what they’re seeking in doctors.

Zocdoc released its third annual report on patient trends last month. Kharraz talked with Chief Healthcare Executive® about the report and some of his projections on health care in the year ahead.

“Patients want convenience and they want connection, and so making it easier to find and book care with the right provider delivers on both,” Kharraz says.

Kharraz says patients are looking for doctors who are attentive and engaged.

“You see how they want good listeners, someone who's really there for them in the room, connected,” he says.

Patients want to be able to get access to doctors easily, and too many are having trouble doing so, he suggests. The Zocdoc survey found nearly one in five patients (18.6%) said they had difficulty accessing care, a 25% increase over the previous year. Patients on Zocdoc can typically book an appointment and see a doctor in a few days, he notes.

(See part of our conversation in this video. The story continues below.)

Shopping around

Still, patients are getting more sophisticated and selective as they try to find the right provider. Patients looked at 21 different physicians before finally booking an appointment, according to Zocdoc’s data.

Kharraz says patients are doing more shopping around because they are interested in finding doctors where they have a chance of making a connection.

While patients are looking to see if providers take their insurance, they look at where the doctor attended medical school, where they’ve worked and they are trying to get a sense of “chemistry,” Kharraz says.

“I think there is now a digital pre-meeting and chemistry check going on alongside with the financial check, and it speaks to the importance of connection that the patients are seeking,” Kharraz says.

While patients may spend some time searching for the right doctor for their needs, they tend to stick with their choice.

“I think that's why they're so picky on the front end, because they do want to return to the same provider,” Kharraz says. “We see that's a very, very strong behavioral pattern that holds true across, actually, all age groups.”

Cost-conscious

Patients are also concerned about affordability, Kharraz says.

“They’re certainly becoming a lot more cost-conscious, and they are in particular, making sure that providers are in network,” he says.

“So that's another sort of trend that is accelerating, or has accelerated in 2025 and something that providers really need to be attuned to in order to meet the patients where they now are,” he adds.

While patients have always preferred to see physicians in their own health insurance networks, fewer patients booking on Zocdoc are seeking doctors outside their networks.

“I think this is partially sort of a sign of the times, maybe, and it's something that providers need to be attuned to again, to make sure that they meet the changing requirements that patients bring to the table,” Kharraz says.

Patients want options

Patients also are opting for seeing doctors in the office in most cases rather than virtually, Kharraz says.

“The vast majority wants to see the doctor in the office,” he says. “And the only exception to that is really in mental health where, you know, there are many advantages to the virtual setting.”

While many patients want to see doctors in person, they also want physicians who offer telehealth options, even if their preferred mode is going to the office.

“What is very interesting is, even though patients overwhelmingly and actually increasingly, book for doctors that see them in person, what they do value is doctors that also offer telehealth,” Kharraz says. “So while they don't take advantage of that offering, they like to know that the option is out there. It's a little bit like maybe buying an off-road car … you may not be going to take it off road very often, if ever, but it's just a good option to have.”

Patients also need to be able to book appointments beyond normal business hours, Kharraz says. Roughly four in 10 patients (43%) booked appointments after 5 p.m.

“Patients are booking outside of office hours, right? In many ways, practices that adhere to sort of a traditional scheduling model are just not well set up to do that,” Kharraz says.

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