Recently I found a pretty cool website, ZocDoc.com. You put in a little information and the site helps you find doctors near you who take your insurance.
The site also appears to allow you to schedule an appointment online. And there’s the fly in the ointment. Too good to be true? Maybe. Despite the imperfect experience I’m about to describe, I like ZocDoc’s website very much and intend to continue using it myself.
The above image shows what are supposed to be the available appointments this week for a highly regarded hand surgeon. Who apparently has lots of free time on his hands (excuse the pun).
After an attack by a particularly aggressive penguin (okay maybe it was just a careless car door incident), I made an appointment this weekend for Wednesday at 4:15 pm. I was not surprised when I got a call from the doctor’s office this (Monday) morning that the appointment time was “invalid.” Credit to Boca Raton Orthopedic Group that they actually got me a better time.
Knowing something about creating websites, I understand that it ain’t easy to get something like this working. But ZocDoc has ample funding, so they should get it fixed quickly and in the meantime warn users that the appointment they make may not be valid. -Update- ZocDoc actually called me this morning and assured me they’d look into this and get it fixed. Credit to them for being on top of things and for monitoring what’s being said on the web about them.
For other criticism of ZocDoc, see for example:
BetaBeat: ZocDoc Customer Support Problems
And from a competitor (grain of salt?): DxTopDoc – ZocDoc problems
ZocDoc is still worth a look if you need to find a doctor. I will certainly use it again.
