Why AI Could Finally Fix Healthcare Access | Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz

In this episode of The a16z Show, Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz joins a16z General Partner Julie Yoo to argue that healthcare access is fundamentally a scheduling and connectivity problem, rather than simply a problem of finding doctors. His thesis is that patients need accurate information about availability and the ability to book an appointment wherever they begin their search. AI could improve that experience, but the underlying scheduling infrastructure is central to making it work.

Kharraz describes Zocdoc's nearly 20 years of work building infrastructure for online scheduling and its move to open that technology to AI agents, insurers, and other platforms. Zocdoc's partnership with Gemini provides a named example of this broader distribution strategy. The practical mechanism discussed is surfacing last-minute appointment availability, which can shorten waits from weeks to days by connecting patients with openings that might otherwise be difficult to discover.

The strategic context is AI's potential to become a new front door to healthcare. If patients begin their search through an AI agent or another platform, booking functionality needs to extend beyond a standalone scheduling app. Kharraz argues against locking patients into a single healthcare platform and sees Zocdoc's future reaching well beyond its own app. The discussion therefore frames wider access to scheduling technology—not ownership of every patient interaction—as an important part of Zocdoc's direction.

The central unresolved issue is how broadly this model can deliver better access. The notes describe a mechanism for reducing waits, but provide no quantified results from the Gemini partnership or evidence about its reach across providers and appointment types. They support a distinction between making existing appointment capacity easier to find and book, and increasing the underlying supply of care; the discussion described focuses on the former.