Find a Doc ASAP!

Ever need to see a doc asap? More and more at ZocDoc, we're seeing patients making same day appointments, and we've recently been getting a lot of feedback from patients thanking us for this service. Whether you have a dental emergency, a sudden flu, or anything in between, we're proud to help you find a doc asap!

Are You a Fan?

Now it's even easier to stay in touch with ZocDoc!  Keep up to date on news and health tips at www.facebook.com/zocdoc. And if you haven't become a fan of ZocDoc yet - what are you waiting for?

Find a Doctor!

Don't forget to take our brand new Facebook quiz to Find Your Dream Doctor! Our quiz will match your personality to the best doctor for you. Find out if you should be treated by Dr. House, Doogie Howser, or many, many more!

From Head to Toe, ZocDoc Has You Covered

We are happy to announce two new additions to our service this week: ZocDoc now helps you find a psychiatrist and find a podiatrist. This brings our specialties up to ten! It's awfully exciting to see more and more people using ZocDoc, and you can count on us to work even harder to make it easy for you to find a doctor. Expect more specialties soon!

ZocDoc is a Webware 100 Winner!

For two years we tried, but this year we did it. Today, CNET announced the Webware 100 Winners, and ZocDoc was one of them!

A winner in the Commerce category, ZocDoc is among an impressive group that includes Amazon, CraigsList, and PayPal. We're so proud to be there.

Thank you to everyone who voted for ZocDoc!

The White House Health Care Commitment

Today, a number of leading health care providers met with President Obama to announce their pledge to reduce national health spending over the next ten years. The President said, "Reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait."

We would have to agree.

At ZocDoc we believe reform should save you money, and it should also save you time. Helping patients find a doctor quickly and easily is our pledge - it always has been. Today we are happy to see what the President called an "unprecedented commitment," and we are proud to join along.

Swine Influenza (Flu)

No one knows how Swine Flu will develop. The CDC recommends washing your hands, avoiding the greeting kiss, and avoiding to cough out openly (the disease is believed to spread by tiny droplets in the air). For more information, please see the CDC’s Q&A on Swine Flu.

Swine Flu symptoms are similar to that of the regular flu including fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. If you are concerned that you have these symptoms and you want to see a doctor, our primary care doctors have agreed to offer Swine Flu checkup appointments.

Thanks, Mashable!

Mashable's Social Media Hub Series highlights local social media organizations, companies, and personalities. This week in Social Media Hub: New York, and in some excellent company, ZocDoc was given a nod. Thank you, Mashable, for recognizing the work we do!

Sick in the City?

For those of you looking to read about the healthcare industry and the ways to make it better, check out the new ZocDoc blog Sick in the City. Created as a place for different members of the healthcare community to share ideas, Sick in the City is ZocDoc's way of joining the conversation about fixing healthcare in America. 

Take a look today!

ZocDoc in the New York Post!

Today you can read all about why patients and New York doctors love ZocDoc. Check out the New York Post today, and find out why it calls ZocDoc "Just what the online patient ordered."

Vote for ZocDoc Again!

ZocDoc has just been named a Finalist in the 2009 Webware 100 Awards! Recognizing the Web's "most important, most innovative, and most useful products," we are proud to be nominated in the Commerce category.

Like always, a vote for ZocDoc is a vote for better healthcare, so Vote for ZocDoc today and help us win in 2009!

ZocDoc Brings You Allergy Relief

Just in time for spring.

Today we are proud to announce our eighth specialty on ZocDoc -  Allergists! In New  York City, the average wait time to see an allergist is 3 weeks. It can even be longer during spring allergy season. And honestly, who can live with itchy eyes, a runny nose, and other hay fever symptoms for 3 weeks?!

Like always, you can count on ZocDoc to provide you with same-day and next-day appointments. Because to enjoy a New York spring, you might just need a New York allergist.

ZocDoc is Moving On Up!

 

With a growing doctor directory, a growing number of specialties, and a growing team, it was only a matter of time before we outgrew our office.  So today we're moving!

Now, we realize this might not be earth-shattering news like universal

healthcare in America or world peace, but we're still pretty excited. Instead of working on top of each other, now we all have space! More offices, bigger windows - there's even room for Rock Band.

In our new office, we expect to get a whole lot more work done. And that's good news for everyone.

ZocDoc Gets a Makeover

So have you noticed our new site design? Sharper and faster, ZocDoc will still continue to help you find a doctor or dentist. But from now on, it's going to be a lot easier on the eyes.

If you haven't yet, take a look around our site and let us know what you think. And keep checking back for more exciting news!

Well Done, Salesforce!

Congratulations to one of our investors, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, and his team.

Having recently reported hitting $1 billion in annual revenue, Salesforce continues to lead the way in software as a service. We are proud to count Marc Benioff among the industry leaders who support ZocDoc, and consider the success of his company a great inspiration.

Patient Plus Doctor, Simple As That.

This is what we're always reminding ourselves.

It is our goal at ZocDoc to improve healthcare in America. We believe that if you're looking to find a doctor, it doesn't have to be a difficult process. And we believe that making an appointment should be quick and easy to do.

As we continue building our service, you'll be hearing about some changes. Expect to see a new and improved site design in the coming days. Expect to find some new specialties in the coming weeks.

And we expect to hear from you! Where there's change, there's opinion, and we want to hear yours. Do you like ZocDoc? Tell us what we're doing right. Do you think we can do better? Tell us what we need to work on.

Help us help you at feedback@zocdoc.com.

Find a Doctor, Prevent Cancer

February is National Cancer Prevention Month, and here at ZocDoc, we take that seriously. There are plenty of ways for you to prevent cancer - avoid tobacco, be safe in the sun, maintain a healthy diet, exercise - but the best way to detect cancer early is to get a cancer screening.

Second to heart disease, cancer is the biggest killer in New York City. Currently, we can help you make appointments with ENT Specialists, Dermatologists, and Gynecologists for cancer screenings. Do yourself a favor and book one today.

OpenTable Makes Appointment With Success

For over ten years, OpenTable has been helping diners make restaurant reservations online. Now in all 50 states, and over a dozen foreign countries, OpenTable has filed for an IPO.

From one appointment service to another, we congratulate the OpenTable team on their success, and wish them all the best in this next big step.

Thank You

Eight months, 1500 entrants, and two rounds of voting later, ZocDoc was named the Winner of the Forbes.com Boost Your Business Contest this morning. All we can think to say is Thank You. Your votes - your support of what we do - made this happen. We won't let you down.

This November, Vote For ZocDoc!

Last August, you may remember ZocDoc was chosen to be one of 20 Semi-finalists in the Forbes.com Boost Your Business contest. Well, thanks to your support, we've made it to the final round! The winner will be decided as follows:

50% of the decision will be by the Forbes.com panel.

50% will be decided by YOU!

A vote for ZocDoc is a vote for anyone who wants to find a doctor or find a dentist in New York easier and faster. And if we win the $100,000 prize, it will help ZocDoc expand even sooner!

So Vote For ZocDoc, and help us help you!

Microsoft Loves ZocDoc (and vice versa)

It's been a really nice week for ZocDoc, and it just got a little better!

Microsoft has just announced the launch of Microsoft BizSpark, a program designed to help startups start up. BizSpark provides new companies with access to Microsoft tools and resources, with no upfront costs.

And to help introduce the new program, Microsoft chose ZocDoc! They approached us, and gave our CTO, Nick Ganju, the opportunity to try Bizspark out early. Now he is going on the record about what a great program it is.

Microsoft approached ZocDoc! We can still hardly believe it. 

ZocDoc on NY1!

Our candy buyback is off to a great start this week! New York dentists are collecting pounds and pounds of candy and happy, healthy children across New York are collecting a little bit more money in their pockets.

The candy buyback was recently featured on NY1 News, and we hope you take a minute to watch it. If you haven't already, stop by the office of one of our participating dentists, and drop off some candy!

ZocDoc's Halloween: Sweeter Than Candy!

Whether you're Batman, Ironman, or the prettiest princess on the block, you can be sure that ZocDoc is watching out for you - even on Halloween.

From November 3 - 7, ZocDoc will be holding the largest candy buyback in the history of New York City! We're inviting children across New York to hand in their candy at participating dentist offices (see map below), and get $1 per pound in return - maximum 10 pounds per child. Trick-or-treating is fun, but cavities certainly aren't. At ZocDoc, we'll always be there to help you find a dentist because we believe good dental health is the biggest treat of all.

Participating dentist offices are below! 
 

ZocDoc Arrives on Facebook!

    It was just a matter of time.

We've recently released a ZocDoc Facebook Application to make finding a doctor even easier! Now, our doctors can download their schedules to their Facebook profiles, and their friends can book appointments with them at the click of a button.

Who says doctors and patients can't be friends?

ZocDoc Turns 1!

They grow up so fast.

When it was founded, ZocDoc was being run by three people with a big idea in a little East Village apartment. One year later, we've got a real team, a real office, and real support from some of the biggest names in business.

We're proud to announce the two newest investors in ZocDoc, Marc Benioff (founder and CEO of Salesforce.com), and Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of Amazon).

We have had an amazing first year, and the support we have received only encourages us to continue growing. Now offering six specialties, we look forward to providing more services in more areas in the months and years ahead!

ZocDoc Comes Home to TechCrunch

 

So much can happen in twelve months.

This time last year, ZocDoc was chosen as one of the 40 hottest startups at the TechCrunch40 conference. We packed our bags, went to San Francisco, and presented our brand new company.

This year, we are proud to be coming back as alumni to what is now TechCrunch50. From September 8-10, you can find us at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse, where we will be giving demonstrations and even unveiling our iPhone application prototype!

If you're in the San Francisco area, or plan on coming to TechCrunch50, make sure to stop  by and say hello!

UPDATE:

Thank you to all of you who came over to check in with ZocDoc! We're so glad to have met everyone we did. A special thanks to Jefferson Graham of USA Today, who really liked the idea of being able to find doctors in your network on our website, and wrote about us on his Technology Blog!

Khosla Ventures Forward with ZocDoc

The secret's out.

Khosla Ventures, the preeminent firm founded by Vinod Khosla, has shown its support of ZocDoc by leading a $3M investment in us!

Looking at a list of some of the causes Khosla Ventures stands behind is like looking at a short list of ways to save the world: poverty alleviation in developing nations, affordable housing, alternative energy, petroleum independence, and environmental protection, among others.

ZocDoc is the first consumer healthcare investment for Khosla Ventures, and we are beyond proud to have the support of a firm that shares our vision to make the world a better place.

ZocDoc Rocks! (and rolls)

The month of September can mean a number of things: new TV shows, colorful forestry, sweaters, but mostly, the beginning of school.

To celebrate going back to school, ZocDoc is giving away free concert tickets for you and 3 of your friends each week of September!

We want to give a warm welcome to the incoming class of 2012, but why stop there? Anyone who creates an account on ZocDoc can be eligible to win! Plus, we're letting you choose which concert you want to see.

We can't think of a better way to start September - enter now!

PC Magazine Names ZocDoc a Top Web Site in 2008

      The good news just keeps coming!

This week, PC Magazine named ZocDoc one of the Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites in 2008. We couldn't be more proud to see ZocDoc among the top five Health and Science sites, and in such good company.

PC Magazine's Kyle Monson says, "We absolutely love the idea of ZocDoc...as of right now it's available only in New York. Here's hoping the Web service spreads quickly." 

Thank you, Kyle, and we hear you: we're working to bring our service across America. See you in 2009!

Vote For ZocDoc!

We're actually blushing.

Out of 1500 companies, ZocDoc was chosen to be one of 20 Semi-finalists by Forbes.com in its Boost Your Business contest! We've made our 30-second video pitch, and hope to be among the top five Finalists in the fall.

We're proud to be recognized for our work, and hope you Vote for ZocDoc - the company in rhyme - and help us help you!

ZocDoc Eyes Ophthalmology

Clearly, it was time for something new.

Continuing its summer expansion, ZocDoc will add ophthalmology to its growing list of specialties. With large patient demand for vision specialists, ZocDoc has been eyeing ophthalmologists since we launched dermatology earlier this summer. Some ophthalmologists have even had the foresight to sign up early since they know our waiting lists tend to develop quickly.

Of course, if you are a patient we want to continue to hear from you! If you know an ophthalmologist that you would like to see on ZocDoc, please let us know .

Ophthalmologists looking for more information on ZocDoc can sign up here, and we do hope to hear from you soon.

ZocDoc Launches Dermatology Service

Today ZocDoc added dermatology appointments to our service, making it easy for users to find a dermatologist in their area and book an appointment instantly online.

"As most New Yorkers know, it can take several months to schedule a dermatology appointment. We're continually expanding our service with more doctors including dermatologists to give New Yorkers a better healthcare experience," said Cyrus Massoumi, ZocDoc co-founder and CEO.

Patients can now book appointments for a variety of medical dermatology procedures including annual skin exams, mole inspections and acne treatments, as well as several cosmetic dermatology procedures such as Botox and collagen injections, laser hair removal and scar removal.

Dermatology is ZocDoc's latest offering after adding primary care in February. We will add more specialties very soon, and users are welcome to submit their suggestions (for new doctors and specialties) to nominate@ZocDoc.com.

ZocDoc Makes Headlines

Monday was a big day in the headlines for ZocDoc as we were featured in ABC News, made page one of The New York Sun and were included in the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog.

ABC 7 Eyewitness News features a patient who used ZocDoc to find a dentist in an emergency and is now a regular patient of that dentist.

The New York Sun emphasizes how ZocDoc helps patients find same-day appointments with primary care physicians to avoid the long waits and high costs of emergency rooms. 

Picking up the New York Sun story, the WSJ Health Blog calls ZocDoc an "online matchmaker for docs" and notes the doctor screening and convenience factors.

Thanks everyone for your continued support!

Calling All Dermatologists: Apply to ZocDoc Today!

Starting today, ZocDoc is inviting dermatologists to apply to become part of ZocDoc's expanding network of doctors. Dermatologists in New York City will be the next medical specialists added to the ZocDoc network, following our successful launch of primary care doctors.

Both dentistry and primary care currently have waiting periods of several weeks for new practitioners who want to join ZocDoc. Early registration for dermatologists is advisable.

Dermatologists interested in connecting with new patients can offer them a variety of procedures on ZocDoc, including both medical and cosmetic dermatology. 

If you are a dermatologist and would like to learn more about ZocDoc, please let us know here.

ZocDoc featured at NY Tech Meetup

Watch ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi present at the NY Tech Meetup on May 13, 2008. Donning bright orange scrubs, Cyrus talked about the company's mission to help patients easily find a doctor or dentist and make an appointment instantly online.

Audience members gave ZocDoc a friendly reception and began Twittering instantly, calling ZocDoc "impressive," "the best" and "a great example of the mainstream web." Check out some of their comments here. A lively Q&A covered everything from the business model, roll-out plan & the patient first ethics of the business - watch yourself.

After the meetup, ZocDoc hosted a happy hour at St. Mark's Ale House to kick off its developer contest, offering a MacBook Air to a developer that makes the best use of the new ZocDoc API. Cheers to that!

ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi speaks to the audience at NY Tech Meetup. ZocDoc helps consumers find a doctor or dentist and is particularly useful because it filters by insurance, shows real-time availability, and a map with doctor locations.

ZocDoc Announces Developer Contest - Win a MacBook Air!

Today, ZocDoc kicked off a contest for software developers to create new applications that help patients book doctor appointments anywhere on the web. ZocDoc users have frequently requested integrations into popular applications and devices such as Facebook and iPhones, among others.

The contest, which runs from now until August 1, 2008, challenges developers to build the application that will most benefit patients looking for a doctor. A new API allows developers to pull data from ZocDoc such as doctor and dentist information, practice locations, pictures, URLs and available appointment times, which can be integrated into custom mashups and applications. The developer of the application that benefits the most users (as measured by appointments made) wins a brand new MacBook Air!

If you are a developer, visit the ZocDoc Developer Center to register for the API.

And as always, we love hearing your feedback so keep sending us emails or visit ZocDoc on Facebook.

"I LOVE ZocDoc" - Thank You for the Great Feedback

A month ago, we sent all ZocDoc users a simple email: what are your experiences good or bad, and what should we do better?

We had braced ourselves for a healthy mix of compliments and constructive criticism. A few hundred responses later we are flattered beyond belief. Some of you had great ZocDoc stories to share:

"I really liked ZocDoc. I work in a cublicle type setting and don't like making phone calls regarding personal information while at work, though I also don't want to be standing on the street calling doctors so it was ideal for me."

"I'm not from New York and I have not had good experiences dealing with receptionists at medical offices here. They have been horribly rude and so this was a way for me to avoid that."

"I had an emergency and needed someone who was available on a Saturday afternoon."

"I LOVE ZocDoc. It made the bewildering process of finding a primary care physician painless."

Of course, we are heartened by these stories, so by all means, keep them coming. At the same time, we'd like to hear your ideas on how to make ZocDoc better.

You can keep sending us emails or use ZocDoc on facebook to start a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you either way.

Thanks again,

Your friends at ZocDoc

ZocDoc is featured on NBC's "Sree Advice"

Hear Sree Sreenivasan in conversation with Darlene Rodriguez and Rob Morrison about ZocDoc on WNBC's "Sree Advice." He likes the ability to filter doctors by insurance, see their availability, and book online with an instant confirmation - thanks Sree! And Darlene wants to use ZocDoc to make an appointment - we are looking forward to it.

Along comes ZocDoc

ZocDoc's idea is simple: find a dentist or doctor and book online.

The general concept is  well established - sites like OpenTable and Orbitz have shown the impact and convenience of online scheduling. We are proud to be recognized by The New York Times as a leader who helps shape the field, e.g. by helping consumers make a decision on healthcare providers they don't know yet:

"ZocDoc, which operates in New York and started late last year, is trying to overcome this hurdle by also posting reviews of the city’s medical providers, so users have more confidence when booking for the first time. Mr. Thibodeau said that whatever hurdles these companies face in the short term are dwarfed by the opportunity."

 

Organizations like the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, which is deeply involved in the transformation of healthcare through technology, say this about us:

"The market won't stand still. While a bunch of us are futzing around with patient portals, PHRs, patient kiosks, and other tools to add convenience to health care delivery, along comes ZocDoc which allows online scheduling of physician and dentist appointments for participating providers."

Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully, we'll be in Massachusetts soon. See you there.

ZocDoc is Brooklyn Bound

More than 2,700 users have requested ZocDoc for Brooklyn since we launched. We have taken it as a great encouragement, and as an obligation to deliver.

We are thus happy to announce that patients can find Brooklyn doctors and dentists on ZocDoc starting today. Practices are now available in Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Bay Ridge, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Downtown Brooklyn, with more to come in the next few weeks. As always, if your doctor or dentist is not on ZocDoc yet, let us know.

We’ll be adding the other boroughs, New Jersey and Connecticut soon. If you’d like to be notified, please subscribe to our news blog.

Primary Care hits a Sweet Spot with Patients and Physicians

When ZocDoc launched primary care on Valentine’s day last month, we were hopeful that patients would show our physicians some love. What happened surpassed even our most optimistic scenarios: within 15 minutes of making doctors available on ZocDoc, the first patient booked an appointment.

Thanks go to all of our users who have kept us (and the ZocDoc doctors) busy since then. With offices in the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Gramercy, Tribeca, and SoHo, patients could find a doctor on ZocDoc in many neighborhoods from day one.

Doctors love the service as well – many were initially in disbelief that joining ZocDoc is free for them, and were pleasantly surprised how quickly ZocDoc connected them with their patients.

While we are growing our base of primary care doctors (if your doctor doesn’t participate yet, you can nominate here), we are already starting to plan our next specialty. What would you like to see next on ZocDoc? Let us know!

ZocDoc Selected as a Webware 100 Finalist

Every year, Webware (a CNET site) selects the 100 leading internet sites. This year, they have selected ZocDoc as one of the 300 finalists among 4,600 candidates!

We are, of course, not building ZocDoc to win prizes. We are creating a platform to make healthcare simpler and people’s lives better. At the same time we are honored and humbled to be mentioned along great sites like Amazon, eBay, OpenTable, Google and Microsoft.

The ultimate winners will be selected by a vote of the general public, starting today. We realize that we are a much newer company than many of the other nominees, but we are energized by the enthusiastic feedback we’ve been getting from both our patients and our doctors. So, if you like our service, please vote for us!

PS: Do you live out of NYC? Voting for us will help bring ZocDoc to your neighborhood!

HONcode for ZocDoc: Our Promise to Patients

ZocDoc’s adherence to high ethical standards for health-related websites has just been certified by The Health On the Net Foundation, an NGO with a special consultative status with the United Nations.

We are proud to comply with the 8 principles laid out in the HONcode (among them Privacy, Transparency, Authority). We also follow additional policies to make sure the interests of patients come first on ZocDoc. Oliver Kharraz, MD, our Chief Medical Officer, pledges

• Results without Bias: We don’t accept payment for a preferred placement in our search results. We always show the results first which we believe will be most useful to you.
• Real Patient Reviews: Only actual patients can leave reviews for our doctors. This eliminates the rating fraud that is going on at many doctor rating sites

We do this because we want to be just as professional as you’d expect your doctor to be. We are looking forward to earning your trust.

ZocDoc Invites Primary Care Physicians to Apply

Starting today, ZocDoc encourages medical professionals who want to be part of our first roll-out wave to apply for ZocDoc. The first doctors on the system will be primary care physicians, family practitioners, and general internists in Manhattan (for coverage in other areas, see "Where Next, ZocDoc?").

Interested professionals are encouraged to apply early to avoid a waiting period.

PS: If you are practicing dentistry, a medical specialty other than family medicine/ primary care, or outside of Manhattan, we still encourage you to register. We'll process your application when we expand the scope of specialties and/or our service area.

If you are a patient and would like your doctor to use ZocDoc, please send us a note to nominate@ZocDoc.com.

Where Next, ZocDoc? - America Votes 2008

If you live in New York, ZocDoc has made finding a dentist easy for a couple of months now.

However, if you live somewhere else, then you may be interested to hear that we've given our users the power to select the city ZocDoc will come to next: The New ZocDoc City will be determined in a fair & democratic process.

We are currently accepting nominations for candidate cities. If your city isn't marked below, make sure to vote today and rally your friends and co-workers, too.

And here are our front-runners today:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Washington, DC San Francisco Chicago Los Angeles San Jose Seattle

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Philadelphia Atlanta Boston Detroit Charlotte Oakland

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Miami Dallas Austin Chapel Hill Portland St. Louis

The Wall Street Journal Takes Notice of ZocDoc

Look out for an article by Rebecca Buckman in today's WSJ. While she is worried that the Web 2.0 may be a bubble, her biggest worry about ZocDoc seems to be that we have only a 2% market penetration (less than three weeks after launch):

Among firms presenting there was ZocDoc Inc., which lets people make appointments with doctors and dentists online. The New York company has listings for only 2% of the dentists in Manhattan and no physicians, but it has attracted interested investors, says its CEO, Cyrus Massoumi. Read the full article

We believe that's a fair point. And we pledge to increase penetration of dentists and add physicians soon. But we appreciate that the WSJ wrote about us twice already (the first time was in the WSJ blog).

Update as of November 16:

This is a plot of the number of bookable hours available on ZocDoc for every week from launch until today. We are proud to have a 4-fold increase in the five weeks since Rebecca wrote her article. We credit some of this increase to the attention we got after the Wall Street Journal mentioned us twice. Thank you Rebecca!

 

ZocDoc Launch Wins Accolades from the Press

It's always good to feel appreciated, but the response to our launch and press release has shown us that we are not alone in our belief that finding doctors and dentists is a major pain point for many fellow Americans.

Here is what the press thinks:

	One of my favorites was featured in the "Revenue Models and Analytics" session. ZocDoc ... bills itself as way to make doctor and dentist appointments online. ZocDoc allows you to input your health insurance carrier and a zip code. Many of our readers might now exclaim that this is ... possible through your carrier's web site already. As even more of our readers are aware, insurance company directories of medical professionals are typically not very user-friendly. Beyond that, there's no way to know what other people think of a particular doctor and no way to see availability or make appointments. ZocDoc lets you find the best local dentists and book appointments online... The site features metadata like ratings, reviews, medical degrees, universities, awards won, and, most importantly, open spots on their schedule. The real killer feature is the ability to book a slot on a doctor's schedule without ever having to pick up the phone... Read the full article
	ZocDoc is a Web site to allow you sign up for doctor and dentist appointments. ... You can restrict search by insurance type, location, ratings of doctors and other features. Also works from mobile phones. The site goes live today, starting with dentists in Manhattan. Starts with 2% of Manhattan dentists. Experts time: ... Esther Dyson: Says ... My heart is with ZocDoc; challenge is going to be marketing and visibility; ratings fraud that all review sites deal with; if you can deal with the problems, I think you have a winner; people are fleeing the United Healthcare site and looking for something intelligible. The ZocDoc guy says he has looked at leaders in online feedback space; they are committed to feedback being fair; practitioners get opportunity to respond; if factually incorrect, they will pull it down, on case by case basis. Read the full article and more Barron's coverage here
	A case in point is ZocDoc.com, a New York-based startup that launched on Tuesday as a way to help people to find doctors and dentists online and to screen them to determine what insurance they accept and what kind of reputation they have. Although all major health insurance companies provide their own lists of specialists, those lists are notoriously inaccurate and out of date. ZocDoc founder Cyrus Massoumi, who conceived the business after a a sinus infection led to a ruptured ear drum during a cross-country flight, said the list of doctors his insurance provider offered was hopelessly long and gave no information beyond the doctors' names. "I was praying that the doctor whose name started with an 'A' had finished in the top of his class," he joked. Legendary high-tech investor Esther Dyson said she was excited by the business, which she said "solves a huge problem." Once when she needed immediate care, Dyson admitted, she selected a doctor whose name began with a "B" solely because the name was at the top of the list. "People are fleeing the United Healthcare site," she said. Read the full article
	You can also check out a dentist's online profile, which includes important information like their specialties, education, languages spoken, and affiliations with professional organizations. Each dentist profile page includes a map and a list of user-submitted patient reviews. Think of it being like a background check before your date with the drill. This is a great concept ... Read the full article
	ZocDoc, a good way to get a dentist or doctor recommendation on the fly — This site lets you put in your zip code, and then look for things like an emergency appointment with a dentist, or a consultation about a bad rash with a doctor. ZocDoc returns results of the best rated physicians according to user input. It lets you sort by those who accept your insurance. It also gives you a profile page stating where the doctor or dentist went to school, research papers they’ve written, and other notes by users. Most of us get doctors or dentists from personal recommendations, but sometimes that’s not good enough. That’s when ZocDoc comes in handy. The site just went live, so is relatively spartan. It has about 2 percent of Manhattan’s dentists listed already. Read the full article

Addendum on October 1, 2007:

The new ZocDoc.com lets patients book physician and dentist appointments online, similar to the way OpenTable.com allows diners to make online reservations for restaurants. Read the full article

ZocDoc launches at TechCrunch40

Today at 10:45 am PST our service went live at TechCrunch40, where ZocDoc was selected as one of the 40 hottest startups globally by Michael Arrington and his team. Not a small compliment, considering they have reviewed thousands of companies in the TechCrunch Blog (one of the top 3 tech blogs worldwide).

With ZocDoc, New Yorkers will now be able to find a dentist online and book an appointment instantly. ZocDoc can filter dentists by insurance & location and makes background information and patient reviews available. You can see Cyrus Massoumi and Oliver Kharraz, MD, our two co-founders, demonstrate the site at TechCrunch below.

We also had great comments from the discussion panel. Guy Kawasaki is probably slow in the adoption curve. He is more likely to ask Jason Calacanis for help than to use ZocDoc himself - but only for particular conditions. Please see his humorous exchange with our co-founder, Cyrus Massoumi:

But Esther Dyson thinks that we "solve a huge problem." Hear her comments in detail:

Thanks also to the audience for their great response: they gave us the third-highest score in the TechCrunch40.