Crain's Detroit Business - December 19, 2011 - (Page 18)

Page 18 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS December 19, 2011 Doc-appointment website targets Detroit, seeks sales associates BY JAY GREENE CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Professional Jet Management The business plan for ZocDoc is simple: Charge doctors $250 per month, offer people a website where they can make an online medical appointment with one of the doctors under contract and expand to as many cities as possible. Right now in Detroit, the company’s 13th city, Cyrus Massoumi, ZocDoc’s co-founder and CEO, said he is looking to hire up to 10 sales associates who will be responsible for recruiting doctors into the service. Sometime during the next three months ZocDoc will go live with its website to offer patients same-day appointments with primary care physicians. The initial specialties will include internists, family practitioners, dermatologists, obstetricians and gynecologists. “Nationwide, there is a huge need to increase health care access. Studies have shown it takes an average of 20 days to get a new physician appointment (if you don’t already have a primary care doctor),” Massoumi said. Steven Newman, M.D., president of the Michigan State Medical Society, Newman said physician wait times are much less in Southeast Michigan, maybe 10 to 14 days, unless there is an emergency. “Doctors keep one or two open appointments each day” for walkins, said Newman, adding that the ZocDoc model provides convenience for patients and improves timely access to physicians. “It reflects what we see going on in medicine with younger people using much more technology,” he said. Formed four years ago in New York City, ZocDoc chose Detroit based on the number of requests it has received from residents, Massoumi said. “From a consumer standpoint, it is free to use. All you need to do is go to the website, tell us where you need to look for a doctor, what kind, filter them by the insurance you have and click on one of the appointment times,” Massoumi said. ZocDoc’s sales force will make visits to physician offices in early 2012 to sell subscriptions of $250 per physician per month to participate in the network. Initially, the company will target small practices. Later it will recruit physician organizations and employed medical groups, Massoumi said. “The goal is to get all physicians in Detroit on the service,” he said. “We have other services that help physicians build their practice.” For example, ZocDoc sends out appointment reminders for people registered with the service and preventive care suggestions that can potentially generate additional appointments, Massoumi said. “We integrate our system with their scheduling or electronic medical record system,” Massoumi said. “We work with all major information systems.” Newman said the $250 monthly charge is rather steep as most physicians are trying to reduce office overhead costs as government and private payers continue to underfund health care. “The charge has more of a pecuniary interest rather than actual assistance with appropriate beneficial physician-patient relationships,” Newman said. Massoumi said ZocDoc can also help physicians reduce systemic problems of patients breaking their appointments, which can account for more than 10 percent of a doctor’s daily schedule. “We can help physicians keep their schedule full,” Massoumi said. “We haven’t done a formal utilization study, but with a system like ours we can increase utilization by 10 percent.” Newman said broken appointments can range from 20 percent to 30 percent for some physicians. “I speak to physicians around the state and the ‘don’t show’ rates are very high. Part of the reason is transportation problems, especially for people on Medicaid,” he said. “Lots of doctors and dentists place reminder calls for patients or hire companies to do that.” With more than 5.3 million available appointments at any one time, ZocDoc hooks up people nationally with doctors in more than 40 medical specialties. It is used by more than 700,000 patients each month, the company said. Massoumi said ZocDoc also can help reduce inappropriate hospital emergency department utilization. “Instead of waiting two or three days for an appointment, people can make an appointment and avoid an ER visit,” he said. Massoumi also said ZocDoc works with some health insurance companies to help them book appointments for clients. “Insurers get calls from patients saying they can’t get an appointment with any doctors on their list,” Massoumi said. “The insurance company uses us to help out their clients.” Andy Hetzel, vice president of corporate communications for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, said the state’s biggest health insurer maintains a website with a physician finder. “It is the most popular part of our website,” Hetzel said. “We don’t offer appointments.” In August, ZocDoc received $75 million in venture capital funding from Goldman Sachs and DST Global, which also has invested in Facebook, Twitter and Groupon, said ZocDoc officials. Past investors have included Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, and Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce. Total investment in ZocDoc has reached $95 million since its founding in 2007, company officials said. ZocDoc, which employs more than 200 and has doubled its workforce the past year, declined to reveal annual revenue figures. However, Allison Braley, ZocDoc’s director of public relations, said some of the company’s early entry markets, including New York, are profitable. Other markets include Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Boston. Job candidates should submit resumes to jobs@zocdoc.com or visit www.zocdoc.com/careers. Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325, jgreene@crain.com. Twitter: @jaybgreene Talmer acquires Wisconsin banking group BY TOM HENDERSON CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Experience the difference. 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The two are former colleagues of David Provost, Talmer’s president and CEO, at the PrivateBancorp Inc. of Chicago. “This is a two-pronged opportunity,” said Provost. “One, we raised another $26 million in capital, which helps us pursue or strategy of buying banks, both FDIC-assisted transactions and open transactions. And we added two great veteran Midwest bankers to our team.” Talmer has bought the assets of a handful of banks in Michigan and Wisconsin after they were shut down by regulators at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., including Madison Heights-based Peoples State Bank and Mt. Clemens-based Community Central Bank earlier this year. As part of this transaction, Lake Shore spun off its wholly owned subsidiary, Hager City, Wis.-based Hiawatha Bancshares Inc. to its shareholders. Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337, thenderson@crain.com. 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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Detroit Business - December 19, 2011

Crain's Detroit Business - December 19, 2011