Zocdoc changes to per patient booking fee

Zocdoc, the scheduling website used by health providers, including dentists, dermatologists and optometrists, is eliminating subscriptions in favor of a model that charges for every new patient booking, despite objections from some longtime providers.

The company sent an email to users in New York on Tuesday informing them of the first pricing model change since 2012. Zocdoc estimates that half of its participating providers in New York, where the company is based, will pay the same or less with the per-booking fee than they do now. A typical subscription charge comes to $3,600 a year per doctor.

Zocdoc said the purpose of the change is to accelerate the company’s move into less-populated areas, where doctors can’t see enough new patients to justify the flat fee. But the move has faced fierce resistance from physicians in the New York area who expressed their concerns to CNBC last year, when the company was piloting the new model.

They say the pricing change will be unsustainable for their practices because it’s too hard to recoup the costs for every new patient, seeing as most don’t make regular visits. Peter Chien, a dermatologist in New York, said he will have to pay $35 for a new patient and $80 if the person is seeing a procedural dermatology specialist. Chien told CNBC in August that his costs would go up seven-fold.