As Others Put Up Walls, Zocdoc Opens Its Doors and Welcomes AI Agents to Reliably Connect Patients to Care

The company is extending an invitation to AI agents to use its healthcare access infrastructure and announcing a first-of-its-kind agent partnership with Instinct to power seamless access to care for its users

NEW YORK, October 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Zocdoc, the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care, today announced it is opening its infrastructure to AI agents, enabling them to find vetted providers, verify insurance plans, and book confirmed appointments directly onto providers' calendars, on behalf of patients. The company's invitation to agents builds on Zocdoc's recent evolution from a booking marketplace into healthcare access infrastructure, powering access to care wherever patients search.

Zocdoc is also announcing a new partnership with Instinct, allowing the AI agent to find vetted providers and book confirmed appointments directly through Zocdoc's healthcare access infrastructure.

An open invitation to agents
Zocdoc has observed that on average, traffic on Zocdoc from AI agents has doubled roughly every 10 days since early September. Since July, traffic on Zocdoc from AI agents has grown nearly 30x, underscoring the growing role of agents as a new starting point for patients' healthcare access. While much of the internet is blocking, restricting, or charging agents, Zocdoc is taking the opposite approach: welcoming agents in.

"Most of the internet is treating AI agents like intruders. We are welcoming them because we believe we have a responsibility to help agents get it right for patients," said Oliver Kharraz, MD, founder and CEO of Zocdoc. "In healthcare, if agents send patients to a doctor who does not exist, an appointment that isn't available, or a provider who doesn't take their insurance, the consequences are real. And it's the patient who pays the price. We've spent nearly 20 years obsessing over the details that make access actually work. We could insist that patients come through our front door. Instead, we're bringing trusted, reliable healthcare booking to them, wherever they are."

New partnership enables AI agents to book care
Through its partnership with Instinct, Zocdoc is giving the AI agent direct access to Zocdoc's MCP, delivering a faster, easier, and more reliable way to connect patients to care. Instinct will be able to tap directly into Zocdoc's trusted healthcare access infrastructure to find vetted providers, verify insurance, and book confirmed appointments. Zocdoc ensures these appointments integrate directly into providers' calendars for a trusted, secure experience. Instinct joins Zocdoc's growing Care Access Network, which already includes AI platforms like Google Gemini and Amazon Health AI, alongside Yelp, Healthgrades, Blue Shield of California, leading search engines, and more.

"Instinct is built to genuinely improve your life and handle important everyday tasks," said Ben Schwerin, Chief Business Officer of Instinct. "Since healthcare is more complicated than ordering groceries or booking travel, the stakes are higher. By partnering with Zocdoc, Instinct can navigate that complexity – so getting an appointment can be as simple as sending a text."

Giving AI agents and patients a trusted path to care
Healthcare presents a particularly difficult challenge for AI agents. Provider information is fragmented across disconnected systems, and the open web is full of outdated directories, inaccurate insurance information, unverified reviews, and even fraudulent websites.

Zocdoc has spent nearly two decades connecting healthcare's fragmentation to enable reliable booking at scale for over 20 million patients. The company has built direct connections across 175+ scheduling integrations, 10,000+ insurance plans, and has 200,000+ verified providers in its network. As a result, Zocdoc has 250,000 appointments available to book within the next 24 hours, with the typical appointment occurring within 24-72 hours — 10x faster than the national average wait time to see a doctor.

AI agents and Zocdoc bring complementary strengths to healthcare access. Agents can help patients navigate their options and act on their behalf. Zocdoc can verify that providers are real, that they accept the patient's insurance, that appointments are actually available, and that bookings are confirmed directly in providers' calendars.

Welcoming agents, with a two-way promise
Patient trust and safety are central to how Zocdoc works with AI agents, and the company has established a two-way promise that sets clear expectations for both sides. Among these, Zocdoc commits to welcoming agents that register and identify themselves. In return, agents are expected to obtain explicit patient consent before booking and protect patient and provider data.

Zocdoc also makes it easy for agents to connect patients to care, with multiple paths in, including an MCP server, REST API,  agent guidance via llms.txt, and deep links.

Read Zocdoc founder and CEO Oliver Kharraz, MD's open letter to AI agents and join as an agentic partner here: www.zocdoc.com/welcomeagents

About Zocdoc
Zocdoc is the healthcare access infrastructure that connects patients to great care. By powering access to care everywhere patients search, Zocdoc helps them move from being stuck to being seen. Each month, millions of patients find and book appointments with providers, powered by Zocdoc—on the company's website and app, and across AI platforms, online search, insurance directories, providers' websites, practice phone lines, and more—with the typical appointment happening within 24 to 72 hours from booking.

With nearly two decades of experience unifying healthcare's fragmentation, Zocdoc is uniquely positioned to power access across insurance plans, PMS and EHR systems, specialties, visit types, and provider organizations of every size. By fixing healthcare at the start, Zocdoc empowers patients to get the care they need, when they need it, while helping providers be bookable everywhere patients search.

SOURCE Zocdoc