Zocdoc CEO on the future of telemedicine
Oliver Kharraz, Zocdoc CEO, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the future of telemedicine and the impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare sector.
Video Transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: All right, welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. I want to talk to the CEO of Zocdoc. And we invite that gentleman-- and Oliver Kharraz is the CEO of Zocdoc-- to discuss the state of telehealth and where it is headed post-pandemic. Because we saw record usage. And it would seem to me it's not too much of a good thing. It makes medicine more efficient, doesn't it?
OLIVER KHARRAZ: Hello, good to be here. Thanks for the question. Yes, it absolutely makes medicine better. We have seen this during the pandemic, where the utilization shot up from less than 1% to one in three bookings on the platform being for telehealth. So it clearly fulfills a strong need for the patient. And we think that telehealth is going to be here to stay.
But as you can also see on this chart is, the pendulum is swinging back. When it was one in three bookings back in May of last year, it has come down to one in seven bookings now. And we continue to see patients choosing to see doctors in person again with, really, one glaring exception that is mental health.
SEANA SMITH: Well, Oliver, I want to ask you about the mental health aspect of it. But going back to the demand, right now, at least overall, for what we're seeing, when we talk about the fact that people are going back in to see their doctors, is that a patient decision? Is that-- are the patients choosing to do that? Or are the providers, I guess, advising their patients that they would rather see them in their offices than do this via telehealth?
OLIVER KHARRAZ: That's a patient-driven choice. We had the benefit of being able to observe patient preference on the platform because we offer in-person bookings and telehealth bookings side by side. And in fact, you know, early on in the pandemic last year, we started out with a model that was very similar to the traditional telehealth models where you get in a queue, and you wait for the next available doctor. And we tested alongside that a model where patients could pick a specific doctor and schedule a time at which they would see them through a telehealth visit. And it turns out that by a ratio of 10 to 1, patients preferred to pick their doctors, schedule a time, and see them then.
And, you know, the same thing that we saw is they like to see doctors that are nearby. And today, patients are predominantly choosing again to see doctors in person to begin with. Telehealth still has its uses. We think it will be 10% to 20% of the volume going forward, as chosen by the patients. And it fulfills an important triage function. It tells you whether you actually need to see the doctor at all or whether you can just wait it out. Or maybe you can get the prescription through telehealth. But the reality is patients have bodies. And frequently, they need someone to look in their mouth or listen to their heart or poke their belly. And that can only be done in person.
ADAM SHAPIRO: The yellow color for the app, by the way, is masterful branding. Because my optometrist is-- I book it through Zocdoc. I book him through Zocdoc in his office. But I'm curious, do you see a future where Zocdoc might actually enlarge itself and offer not only the bookings and the telehealth experience, but the interaction between physician via the platform and kind of all-in-one-stop shopping, as opposed to having to do it in different pieces?
OLIVER KHARRAZ: So we do that today. When we-- before the pandemic, telehealth was a rounding error on Zocdoc. But very quickly, obviously, it became very material. You know, one in three bookings. And we ended up providing a telehealth software for providers that didn't have one to enable doctors to keep their digital doors open and continue to see patients, even if they usually only saw them in person. And so, that's a free piece of software that's available to any doctor who would like. Or they can use their existing telehealth software. We're different to that, but obviously, Zocdoc wants to make it easy for both the patient and the doctor to connect, you know, offline or online, depending on their preference.
ADAM SHAPIRO: And we appreciate your being here, Oliver Kharraz, Zocdoc CEO. All the best to you.
