For patients and providers alike, 2025 was a turbulent year in healthcare. For many patients, accessing care required more persistence and self-advocacy than ever. At the same time, clinicians practiced within systems shaken by rapid-fire policy changes and systemic structures that constrain how care can realistically be delivered.
Despite these pressures, patients had high expectations for their providers. Zocdoc’s 2025 What Patients Want report examines how patients navigated care in 2025, drawing on patient-reported experiences, search trends, and booking behavior from the Zocdoc platform. The findings highlight the qualities patients are seeking out in providers, detail how broader cultural forces influenced when and why patients sought care, and measure the state of patient empowerment in 2025. In this piece, NP 411 breaks down the data and what they signal for nurse practitioners and the future of care delivery.
What Patients Want From Providers
Even as healthcare becomes increasingly digital, patients continue to place a premium on human connection. Despite widespread use of online scheduling, telehealth, and other technology-enabled tools, Zocdoc found that patients still preferred in-person care. Efficiency may improve access, but trust is built through presence, communication, and rapport.
When choosing providers, three factors consistently rose to the top: a positive personal connection, proximity to home or work, and strong ratings from other patients. Five-star reviews frequently described clinicians as “like family,” “meticulous,” and “nonjudgmental,” underscoring that patients evaluate care as much by how it feels as by what is delivered. These qualities often determine whether patients engage fully, disclose concerns, and return for follow-up.
The report’s findings on patient loyalty emphasize how powerful first impressions can be. While Zocdoc found that patients compared an average of 21 providers before booking their first appointment, that exploratory phase was short-lived once patients found the right fit. Eighty-four percent of patients returned to the same provider for future visits, a pattern that held true across age groups.
In a system known for delays, patients placed a premium on being seen quickly. Zocdoc reported that 35% of all appointments occurred within two days of scheduling, and more than half within four days of scheduling. This preference for speed cut across demographics and care specialties.
How Current Events and Culture Influenced Care Seeking
Beyond access and provider characteristics, patient behavior in 2025 reflected the collective strain of the year itself. According to Zocdoc, 57% of Americans reported that world events negatively affected their physical or mental health, with nearly one-third reporting impacts on both. Correspondingly, the platform saw sharp increases in visits tied to mental health and stress-related conditions.
Public visibility also played a decisive role in shaping demand. Health disclosures and awareness campaigns from celebrities and public figures consistently translated into short-term spikes in related appointments. After former President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis became public, searches related to prostate cancer surged 436% in a single day. In a similar vein, weight loss visits rose 42% year over year as GLP-1 medications entered the cultural mainstream, with pronounced booking spikes following public comments from figures like Serena Williams and Oprah Winfrey.
At the same time, topics once considered private or stigmatized gained broader acceptance. Zocdoc reported a 52% increase in menopause consultations and a 95% rise in hormone replacement therapy visits. Men’s health showed similar shifts, with therapy visits increasing 46% and cosmetic services like Botox up 45%.
Patient Empowerment in 2025: Access, Comfort, and Control
Zocdoc’s Patient Empowerment Index, which measures how patients experience healthcare across access to care, comfort with providers, and perceived control over health decisions, fell to a three-year low in 2025. Nearly one in five patients now report difficulty getting care, an increase that mirrors factors like longer waits, fewer appointment options, and less flexibility, that many NPs in their day-to-day work. Regional disparities and gender gaps persist, with people in the South and West and women consistently describing more friction navigating care.
At the same time, the data show that more patients felt alienated from their care. While most still reported feeling comfortable with their providers, an increasing portion of younger adults were more likely to feel disconnected and lacking agency. In practice, this tension might surface in patients hesitating to ask questions or deferring decisions they don’t fully understand.
What the Zocdoc data ultimately highlights is the nurse practitioner’s role as a gatekeeper in today’s healthcare system. The way NPs listen and establish trust goes beyond good bedside manner. For many patients, that consistency is what turns a difficult system into care that feels navigable, and what keeps patients coming back rather than opting out altogether.
