Google announced today that it will show the next available appointment with a health care provider directly in search results.
During a press briefing, product manager Jackie DeJesse revealed that the company is working with MinuteClinic at CVS and other unnamed appointment schedulers to get the initial rollout started as soon as possible. An English-language version will be the initial release.
A person who searches for a doctor or a health care provider’s office can see what types of appointments are available and the earliest appointment date. A “book” button will direct them to a third-party site where they can schedule an appointment.
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Searching for a San Francisco MinuteClinic, for example, will show an “appointments” tab that includes options for a TB test, vaccinations, skin condition, and other types of appointments. According to DeJesse, that section does not currently allow for advertising.
When it was announced in December, other health care search features, such as being able to see which languages are spoken in a doctor’s office and which insurance networks that doctor accepts, were already available on Google.
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