Google introduces insurance and language filters for doctor searches

Anyone who has ever searched for a doctor knows finding a good one that actually takes your insurance is an overwhelming mess. That’s still true, but new search tools from Google might make the process a little less painful.

Google is introducing new ways to get more information about insurance accepted, and the languages spoken, by your doctor. 

If you’re searching for a new doctor on mobile, you’ll now have the ability to specifically filter by doctors that accept medicare. Pretty neat! If you search for a term like “doctor near me,” a prominent button reading “Accepts Medicare” will appear, which makes narrowing down the candidates easy.

Filter for doctors that accept Medicare with the click of a button.
Credit: Google

If you are searching for information about a specific doctor, you’ll be able to see which insurance providers that doctor “might” accept. The wording of this aspect of the announcement was a bit eyebrow raising, and Mashable has asked Google to clarify. Mashable also asked whether filtering by other common medical providers would ever be a possibility for search. As of this writing, Google had not returned our request for clarifications.

Another new piece of information Google is surfacing for prospective patients is languages. Doctors will be able to edit their business profiles to list what languages they speak. If you come across a doctor’s profile, you can scroll down to the “Service options” heading, check whether there is “language assistance,” and then see if the doctor speaks the language that works for you and your family.

Here’s where to check for the language services provided by your doctor.
Credit: Google

Many insurance providers have their own search engines, and there are independent doctor search engines, like ZocDoc. However, many people still rely on word-of-mouth referrals from friends, which can be a frustrating way to find a lot of doctors you can’t actually go to. The new Google tools could make the search a little less painless within a healthcare system that still makes no damn sense.