HEALTHCARE MARKETING EXECUTIVES BILLBOARDS ARE ONLY THE BEGINNING IN THE ER WAIT TIMES WARS
If you spend anytime on the road these days, you’ve probably seen hospitals touting their short ER wait times “LIVE” on any of the highways’ many billboards.
HCA hospitals started the strategy in Florida, developed by their advertising agency, AB&A out of Miami. And the outcomes were fantastic. Some showed increases in ER traffic of up to 25%! Of course, HCA’s wait times were stellar, almost always less than 30 minutes, many times less than that.
But then came the new marketing wrinkle that REALLY got the ER’s cranking: Live ER wait times delivered to potential patients via text message in the middle of their emergency. That’s right, just think about it. Your daughter cuts her finger and needs 3 stitches. Don’t you want to know if you need to go to Hospital A and wait 18 minutes or Hospital B and wait 312 minutes? Pretty simple decision.
So what’s this whole text thing about anyway? Well, its about a trillion of them. Over a trillion texts sent in the US in 2009 and climbing. More and more, people are using their smart phones as the device of choice for making decisions on the go.
Many hospitals are turning to the industry leader for live ER text services, ERTexting out of Miami, Florida. Currently the company manages the 4ER411 system of ER text messages. The patient texts 4ER411 with their zip code and instantly they receive a text of the participating hospitals’ live wait times. Hospitals can secure zip codes on an exclusive basis and use the system to really dominate their competitors. And now 4ER411 even features outbound services to maximize their clients’ database. Patients can routinely receive text messages from hospitals on the system for pennies.
So if you’re looking for the wow factor, get that big billboard and let the whole world know! But if getting ahead of the marketing curve is your thing, text away and reap the rewards.
Sarah McCallister
Concept Behind ER Texting Service
Many People still aren’t familiar with the new phenomenon that has hit ER Waiting Rooms. A new service has been presented to hospitals all over the United States that allows patients to text their zip code to 4ER411 and get local (participating) hospital er wait times. The service is absolutely free to those who text in their zip code. The image shown depicts how the new system works:
Emergency Planning Via Texting
ER Wait Times: To Text or Not to Text?
That is the question and the answer is very simple.
If your hospital is focusing on ER admissions and generating
ER wait times under the staggering national average of 4 hours,
then yes, by all means, let people know about it. Texting ER
wait times is one of the strongest arrows in the healthcare
marketing quiver.
In 2009, over 1.6 trillion–with a “tr”–texts were sent and received
in the United States alone. People are texting more than they are
talking or e-mailing. Texting enables people to make a quick decision
about which hospital provides the shortest ER wait time and that in
turn enables people to begin their positive patient experience.
Studies show that many hospitals that market their ER wait times have
shown double digit increases in ER admissions. Although this has generally
meant a combination of tactics such as billboards, web site postings as
well as texting, the anecdotal evidence is there: people waking into the
ER, cell phone in hand, asking if the wait time is “really just 22 minutes?”
And speaking of people walking into the ER: some hospitals servicing larger
populations have worried over the idea of creating a further burden on their
already strained system. But think about this: marketing the text code
4ER411 to the marketplace is totally controlled by the hospital.
The hospital chooses who learns of the text code, how they learn about it,
when they learn about it. It can be geo-targeted, age targeted,
demographically targeted, so the hospital can maintain better control
of their overall ER targeting.
If your hospital is trying to open up that front door just a bit wider,
then promoting ER wait times is definitely the way to go.
written by Matthew Blakely
Marketing Emergency Medical Services
ER Texting Emergency Services
ER Texting, Inc., a Miami-based healthcare technology company today announced the launch of its ER Texting services for hospitals nationwide. Using ER Texting, patients can send a text message to a dedicated number (4ER411) and instantly receive a message in return which lists the emergency room wait times for participating hospitals in their area. The innovative application enables patients to find hospitals with short wait times and helps hospitals market efficient emergency rooms and emergency departments.
Rather than spend large amounts of money on traditional advertising for their ER’s/ED’s, hospitals can now utilize this low cost alternative for target specific areas of patients in their marketplace. The system allows hospitals to buy specific zip codes in their market, even on an exclusive basis. This allows them to control their ER/ED marketplace
by providing potential patients with the information they most need in an emergency.
HCA hospitals were the first to try this system in Florida in 2009. The results were so great, that it was quickly implemented across the HCA system nationwide.
Now, ER Texting has this technology available to all hospitals nationwide interested in creating a strong marketing effort for their ER/ED. For more information, log onto ertexting.com.
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How Effective is it to Text for Local ER Wait Times?
The buzz on using SMS text messages to receive local ER wait times has hit many states around the US. Billboards all over south Florida show just how big the market has grown for hospitals in advertising their ER wait times. Hospital ER wait times are being displayed on billboard adds all over US-1. The billboards are being updated every 30 seconds to show an accurate prediction of how long someone will have to wait when they pay a visit to their hospital ER rooms.
Cell-Emergency-Service-Text-ER-Wait-Times
One hospital reportedly saw a 25% increase in hospital visits after putting up the billboard. Hospitals are competing with each other for more ER visitors. People have more options in today’s growing market than ever before. The reasons why patients choose which hospitals to visit in an emergency varies – depending on physicians, distance, or wait times. By advertising your wait time on a billboard, hospitals are putting themselves in the forefront of patient options. This new texting platform for hospitals definitely shows the times are changing due to the rapid growth of technology. Hospitals all over the US are already feeling the benefits of adapting to this new change.
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