MIAMI – Today ZocDoc, a free service for patients to find nearby doctors who accept their insurance and instantly book appointments online, launches in the South Florida region. The service is offering over 120,000 medical appointments from Coral Gables to Jupiter along the Atlantic coast.

ZocDoc is improving access to healthcare by allowing patients to find a doctor, sort by location and insurance plan, and book appointments online at ZocDoc.com. ZocDoc offers a variety of tools to help patients choose the best medical provider, including each doctor's qualifications, languages spoken, professional statement, and reviews written by real patients. To find doctors and make appointments from a mobile device, ZocDoc also offers the free ZocDoc App for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

Cyrus Massoumi, ZocDoc co-founder and CEO, was born and raised in South Florida. His parents currently reside in Palm Beach County, where his father is a practicing orthopedic hand surgeon. "It's particularly thrilling to simplify the healthcare system for residents of my hometown," said Massoumi. "My father is a South Florida doctor, and his influence helped inspire me to create ZocDoc and improve access to medical care."

Miami area residents wait 15.4 days on average for medical appointments, according to a study by healthcare search and consulting firm Merritt Hawkins. ZocDoc's unique system makes doctors and dentist appointments available instantly online, resulting in shorter wait times for patients and increased efficiency for medical providers. Forty percent of all appointments scheduled by ZocDoc users occur within one day, and 60 percent of ZocDoc appointments take place within three days.

As of today, primary care physicians, obstetrician-gynecologists, dermatologists, and dentists are offering more than 120,000 appointments in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties through ZocDoc. Additional doctors, specialties and appointment times will be added in the coming months.

To use the service, patients visit the ZocDoc website (www.zocdoc.com) to enter their location, insurance plan, and the type of healthcare provider they would like to see. ZocDoc then shows each doctor's schedule in real-time, along with credentials and patient reviews, in order to help patients choose the practitioner who best fits their needs. Patients simply select a timeslot and complete a brief checkout process to book an appointment. ZocDoc then sends email and text message reminders to help patients remember to attend their doctor visits.

Oliver Kharraz, MD, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of ZocDoc, hopes that the service will play a key role in helping area patients get the care they deserve right away. "As a doctor, I know how important it is to make it simple for patients to take better care of their health. ZocDoc is a one-stop shop for South Florida residents to get the great care they need, whenever they need it."

The Miami region is the 13th area to receive ZocDoc service, and the city was chosen due to high demand in the area for ZocDoc. Thousands of residents voted for ZocDoc to come to their city at http://www.zocdoc.com/vote. ZocDoc currently offers medical appointments in major metropolitan areas including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Palm Beach, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, DC. To learn more about ZocDoc, please visit the ZocDoc press room. Follow the latest ZocDoc news on the ZocDoc blog, via Twitter or on Facebook.

About ZocDoc

ZocDoc, founded in 2007, is improving access to healthcare by enabling patients to search for doctors, sort by location and insurance accepted, read verified reviews, and instantly book an appointment online or via the free ZocDoc Apps for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. There are more than 5.5 million medical appointments available on ZocDoc. More than 750,000 people use ZocDoc to find a doctor or dentist each month.