Zocdoc releases insights into healthcare recovery booking trends amid COVID-19

Zocdoc’s aggregated appointment booking data highlights surges in mental health care, differing telehealth utilization by specialty, and that telehealth bookings persist even as physical bookings recover in states that have reopened

Originally published May 28, 2020

As COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders spread across the country, Americans’ healthcare utilization and behaviors rapidly changed. On Zocdoc, in-person bookings begin to dramatically decline, with the lowest booking week for in-person bookings since the onset of COVID-19 occurring the week of April 6, 2020. Depending on the state, in-person bookings declined anywhere from 50–90% that week as compared to bookings during the week of February 24, 2020. At the same time, both patients and providers have quickly adopted telehealth, transforming America’s healthcare delivery virtually overnight.

Since the week of April 6, in-person bookings on Zocdoc have steadily increased — returning to pre-pandemic ranges in some states — while virtual bookings have continued to grow nationwide. Below is a look at some interesting trends, based on aggregated Zocdoc appointment booking data, regarding how healthcare is adapting and recovering in the wake of COVID-19.

Mental health bookings have surged, surpassing pre-pandemic booking levels:

• Mental health bookings have seen the strongest recovery of any specialty. Weekly mental health bookings are now higher than average weekly mental health bookings in both January (Zocdoc’s largest booking month of the year, annually) and February of 2020.
• For mental health visit reasons, there have been two notable increases: the share of bookings for anxiety and depression, and the share of bookings for marriage counseling and couples therapy, have each increased by 20% as compared to the week of Feb. 24.
• Patients who are booking video visits with mental health professionals are choosing new providers at a 25% higher rate than other specialties, which is a strong indication that many Americans are seeking mental health care for the first time.

All specialties have adopted telehealth, making up an average of 30% of their bookings:

• Every single specialty on Zocdoc offers video visits; the average specialty on Zocdoc (excl. mental health) has 30% video visits as a share of total bookings.
• Mental health is seeing the largest adoption of telehealth. More than 70% of all mental health bookings are for video visits.
• Top 10 specialties for telehealth utilization (% of bookings that are for video visits): Mental health (+70%), Neurologist (55%), Endocrinologist (55%), Gastroenterologist (50%), Dermatologist (40%), PCPs (40%), Sports Medicine (40%), ENT (35%), Allergist (40%), Physiatrist (+30%).
• Other ‘hands-on’ specialties that don’t easily lend themselves to virtual care — such as Eye Doctors, Surgeons, Dentists, Orthodontists, and Chiropractors — are receiving 50% more physical bookings as a share of their total bookings, relative to all other specialties.

In states with strong physical bookings recovery, telehealth demand has remained:

• Physical bookings in two of the earliest states to reopen — Georgia and Texas — have recovered two to three times faster than the national average.
• Even as physical bookings return, telehealth demand persists. Video visits have consistently accounted for ~25–30% of total bookings in Georgia and Texas since reopening. This is just below the national video visit booking average of 35%.

Zocdoc has rapidly adapted its platform to meet the changing needs of patients, providers, and the healthcare system on the whole in the wake of COVID-19. Just last week, the company introduced Zocdoc Video Service: a free, HIPAA-compliant telehealth video solution. Any provider can sign up to use Zocdoc Video Service, at no charge, to facilitate all of their virtual appointments — whether their patients schedule a video visit through Zocdoc or not. This came on the heels of Zocdoc launching video visit bookings through its platform for the first time. Today, there are more than one million video visit appointments across nearly 100 different specialties available on Zocdoc’s Marketplace. Nearly 8,000 providers have already signed up to offer video visits through Zocdoc, making it one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing telehealth platforms.

About Zocdoc

Zocdoc is the leading digital healthcare marketplace for in-person or virtual care. Each month, millions of patients 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 patients, 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 patients expect and deserve.

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