Understand what each supplier is selling

Zocdoc's official Marketplace page, reviewed November 7, 2026, states: “You only pay when a new patient books. No subscriptions. No monthly fees.” It also states that existing-patient bookings carry no charge. These are vendor-described Marketplace terms, not a guarantee that every feature or optional arrangement has identical terms.

HMP's published management plans describe flat-fee Google or Meta advertising management, with client advertising spend separate. HMP is not selling marketplace enrollment, guaranteed patient bookings or a fee calculated as a percentage of media spend.

Compare each actual offer. Do not treat Zocdoc's booking model as a promise of attended or paid visits, or treat advertising management as an included scheduling and intake operation.

Confirm eligibility and administrative fit first

Before modeling costs, confirm whether the marketplace accepts the practice's actual provider types, locations, service formats and payment arrangements. Ask the vendor directly about the proposed scope. A mental-health example on a marketing page does not establish that every license, jurisdiction or appointment type is supported.

For advertising, define the services the practice is prepared to promote and the person authorized to approve public descriptions. Confirm applicable platform rules and any unresolved service or destination restrictions before assuming campaigns can run.

Then assess capacity. Which appointment categories are genuinely open to appropriate new inquiries? Who maintains that information? Do not purchase a channel based on a general desire for growth while leaving the practice unable to keep public availability and request instructions accurate.

Identify the event that creates a charge

A marketplace booking fee and an advertising-management fee need different questions. For the marketplace, request the applicable booking rate, the definition of a chargeable new booking and the billing period. Do not infer a universal dollar rate from another specialty, location or practice's experience.

Ask for current cancellation, rescheduling, duplicate-booking and credit rules in writing. Confirm those mechanics directly with Zocdoc; this guide does not state cancellation, rescheduling or credit outcomes. The phrase pay per booking should not be interpreted as pay only after an attended, collected visit without checking the actual terms.

For managed Google Ads, separate the management agreement from platform media charges. Confirm the plan, account and service scope, setup responsibilities and any separately engaged work. A flat management fee does not make total advertising expenditure fixed.

Compare cost exposure without inventing a result

Prepare two cost models using the actual proposals rather than assumed conversion rates. The marketplace model needs its verified chargeable-booking definition and rate, plus any applicable optional charges. The advertising model needs management, media, applicable setup and separately purchased dependencies.

Keep unknown amounts visible. If the practice does not yet have an applicable marketplace rate or accepted advertising scope, mark the comparison incomplete rather than assigning a convenient estimate. A published fee for one option cannot fill a missing quote for the other.

Decide what spending controls and approval rules matter to the practice. Ask each supplier which controls actually exist and how changes take effect. Do not assume either arrangement provides an unlimited pause right, a universal monthly commitment or a guarantee that expenditure produces sufficient appropriate demand.

Map the patient-facing route without exporting records

Zocdoc's public Marketplace description includes provider information, availability and appointment-booking functions. That creates an operational question about the practice's authorized scheduling workflow. Confirm its actual data flows and responsibilities through the practice's approved privacy and security process before enrolling.

Google advertising also needs an accurate destination and a clear approved next step. It does not automatically supply appointment handling, eligibility review or clinical triage. Determine who maintains the public page and who handles the practice's incoming requests.

Keep those functions separate from HMP's account review. Do not send patient messages, appointment-level exports or clinical-system records to demonstrate marketplace performance or advertising quality. The practice can evaluate identity-level scheduling information internally; marketing discussion should use approved business-level descriptions and aggregates.

Agree on a common business denominator

If the practice later compares channels, distinguish gross new-client bookings, cancellations, net bookings, attended appointments and paid appointments. The aggregate acquisition-measurement guide explains why a platform conversion is not automatically a distinct booked new client.

Use the same reporting period and explain which costs belong to each view. A marketplace invoice based on one booking definition cannot simply be divided by an advertising report's differently defined conversions and presented as a fair winner.

The practice should perform deduplication internally, especially if someone encounters several channels before booking. Supply only approved aggregates, and combine or withhold small categories when necessary to avoid identification. Attribution is a stated comparison rule with limitations, not proof that one supplier caused every subsequent appointment.

Separate channel control from contractual ownership

Ask what the practice can change itself, what requires supplier assistance and which assets remain available if the relationship ends. For the marketplace, confirm profile, availability, reporting and exit arrangements under the applicable agreement. Do not assume a profile or booking history is transferable to a different channel.

For managed advertising, confirm practice control of the relevant advertising account and the agreed roles. Public pages, tracking arrangements and telephone services may have separate owners or contracts. Account access alone does not settle those rights.

If replacing an advertising agency is part of the decision, use the therapy-practice agency handoff guide. A marketplace purchase and an advertising-agency transition are separate decisions; do not cancel an incumbent based solely on a new channel's sales description.

Avoid turning a comparison into a patient-data project

Neither proposal needs a patient list to explain the purchasing model. Use service categories, broad availability, approved payment information and aggregate business measures. Keep clinical records, diagnoses, treatment details and recognizable inquiry examples out of public forms and general-purpose chat.

HMP does not use patient-list uploads or health-based remarketing as part of this comparison. A marketplace's scheduling functions do not authorize copying its underlying records into advertising systems. Any proposed tracking or information transfer needs its own implementation-specific review.

Do not accept a vendor's general privacy statement, a software integration badge or the healthcare label as proof that the practice's actual configuration is appropriate. The relevant question is what each party receives and does under the specific arrangement being considered.

Choose a channel purchase the practice can operate

A marketplace may merit evaluation when the practice can confirm eligibility, maintain the required booking workflow and understand its chargeable-booking exposure. Managed Google advertising may merit evaluation when the practice wants an agreed advertising scope, can fund media separately and can support its own approved inquiry route. These are conditions to investigate, not predictions that either option will work better.

The practice may consider both, one or neither. If it considers both, assign the additional administration and comparison rules before treating the combination as diversified acquisition. More channels can create more coordination, not automatically more useful capacity.

Keep the unresolved questions in the decision record. An unknown rate, unsupported appointment type or unassigned workflow is a reason to obtain an answer or defer—not a gap to fill with someone else's reported return.

Check payment information before choosing the channel

Zocdoc's Marketplace description says providers list accepted insurance, visit types and availability. A therapy practice should confirm that its actual payment arrangement can be represented accurately before treating the marketplace as a suitable purchase. Do not imply participation in an insurance network simply to make a profile appear more attractive.

For a private-pay service or mixed-payment group, ask how the proposed public listing distinguishes the relevant services and providers. This is an eligibility and administrative question for the practice and vendor, not permission for an advertising agency to inspect patient coverage information. An apparently favorable booking fee does not resolve an inaccurate service or payment description.

Apply the same accuracy test to the advertising destination. The public page should explain the approved appointment format and payment information without promising reimbursement or determining an individual's coverage. Assign the person who will correct changes in availability or payment terms.

If those facts cannot be maintained, pause the channel decision rather than using a low-looking fee to justify it. The real comparison includes the practice's ability to operate an accurate public pathway, not merely the amount printed beside a chargeable event.

Request only the review you actually need

For an existing Google or Meta account question, request HMP's free ad-account audit. Describe the business question and available account context without patient information. HMP's agreed review concerns available advertising-account information; it is not a Zocdoc eligibility review, marketplace setup service or assurance about another vendor's terms.

Authorized access and review scope are agreed separately. An inquiry does not authorize account edits, purchase management or enroll the practice in a marketplace. Use the findings to inform the separate purchasing decision, with actual costs, boundaries and retained responsibilities still visible.