Google just made it easy to book doctors’ appointments from search

Google has added a new feature to the search that will show you the next available appointment with a doctor/health care provider. Currently, for this, Google is working with MinuteClinic at CVS and other appointment schedulers who have not yet been named, for the initial rollout in the US.

The feature is expected to show up over the coming weeks and is going to be available only in English.

With this new appointment feature, if someone searches for a doctor or a health care provider’s office on Google, they will get to see what types of appointments are available and what the date of the earliest appointment is. There is also going to be a “Book” button that will direct users to a third-party site where the appointment can be made.

Product manager Jackie DeJesse said during a press briefing that currently people cannot add advertisements to this section. This new option to book an appointment follows some other health care features Google added in search in December last year which included the ability to see what languages are spoken in a doctor’s office and what insurance networks the office takes.

Additionally, Google announced in the same blog that it is helping Brazil, Japan, and India discover local, authoritative health content via YouTube.

“Of all the information channels people turn to for health information, video can be a helpful and powerful way to help people make informed healthcare decisions. People can watch and listen to experts translate complex medical terms and information into simple language and concepts they easily understand, and they can connect with communities experiencing similar conditions and health challenges,” Google explained.

Google added that over the past year, YouTube has “focused on building partnerships with leading health organizations and public health leaders to increase the volume and visibility of authoritative health content through new features”.

Starting this week, in Brazil, India, and Japan, YouTube is going to add health source informative panels on videos to provide context to help viewers identify videos that come from authoritative sources along with health content shelves that will more “effectively highlight videos from these sources when people search for specific health topics”. These context cues help people easily navigate and evaluate credible health information, Google added.

We’ve reached out to Google to find out when the appointment feature might come to India and will be updating the story once we hear from them.

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