Baptist Health System, Birmingham Ala., Selects ERTexting for Communication of Emergency Room Wait Times
Filed under: Emergency Services, Other, Wait Times Health Services
New service allows patients to receive emergency room wait times mobile via any cell phone with text capability.
ER Texting is proud to announced that Baptist Health System, based in Birmingham, Ala., has selected the company as its provider for the SMS/text communication of Emergency Room (ER) wait times for Citizens, Princeton, Walker & Shelby Baptist Medical Centers.
Birmingham and North Central Alabama area residents can now access live wait times for all four hospital emergency rooms by simply texting their zip code to “4ER411” (437411). Wait times for all hospitals are delivered instantly. In addition to the ER wait times, BHS also provides information for its 40 Baptist Health Centers that accept walk-in patients, providing additional options for lower acuity patients.
With more than 5,000 text inquiries made in the initial launch month of November, the service has quickly established itself as a tool consumers can conveniently use from any cell phone to instantly retrieve live wait time emergency room information.
“The ability to provide valuable wait time information to our patients attracted us to this program,” said Ross Mitchell, Vice President of External and Governmental Affairs at Baptist Health System. “By deploying a zip code-based strategy, we’re able to provide relevant information since we’ve geographically associated zip codes to the nearest hospital emergency room, as well as to our Baptist Health Centers.”
Providing ER wait times improves patient satisfaction scores; delivers greater hospital transparency; provides for better load balancing and increased efficiency and ultimately increases ER visits. Today’s patients are demanding more and more healthcare related information. Posting ER wait times aligns with consumers’ expectations and is a determining factor when selecting a hospital for emergency care.
About ER Texting
ER Texting provides texting services to hospitals and urgent care facilities that want to post their emergency room wait time and allow consumers to access those times via text message. By virtue of its dedicated and highly recognizable SMS short code 4ER411, ER Texting offers a complete, secure and integrated texting and marketing platform. For more information on ER Texting and our capabilities, please visit www.ERtexting.com.
Epic Snowstorm in Northeast Demonstrates Growing Role of Text Capability for Patients and Hospitals
As approximately 466,000 homes and businesses across the northeastern U.S. were without electricity after a snowstorm belted the area in late October, one service remained completely operational: Text capability for consumers to access hospital emergency room information including status and patient wait times.
While the storm took down trees, knocked down power lines and claimed the lives of 27 people, many hospitals were still able to broadcast their emergency room status live, thanks to a mobile service provided by ERTexting, Inc. Even while dealing without power for days, consumers kept their cell phones charged and remained “connected” via their hand sets.
Metrowest Medical Center, Lawrence General, The Hospital of Central Connecticut and Windham Hospital are all examples of facilities that were directly impacted by the storm, and who throughout the event were able to provide patients the ability of accessing their emergency room status without interruption. By simply texting their zip code or hospital keyword to “4ER411” (437411), consumers immediately receive a text response with the current status of the hospital’s emergency rooms and/or urgent care centers. No smartphone is necessary as any cell phone is capable of utilizing the service.
Lawrence General responded immediately before and during the storm by modifying its “ERTexting” response. While wait times are usually provided in actual minutes, the hospital was able to personalize its ER status, informing patients that the facility was still up and running but that patient wait times were, “variable based on seriousness of emergency.”
The growing strategy of hospitals to be more transparent and provide live, specific ER wait times has generally led to better balancing of patient loads across multiple resources and higher patient satisfaction. Knowing wait times in advance sets expectations for patients and also drives lower acuity patients to other possible hospital resources, including urgent care clinics. As up to 60% of patients fall into this subset of patients, better management of them equates to greater efficiency for the hospital and lower costs for patients.
About ER Texting
ER Texting provides texting services to hospitals and urgent care facilities that want to post their emergency room wait time and allow consumers to access those times via text message. By virtue of its dedicated and highly recognizable SMS short code4ER411, ER Texting offers a complete, secure and integrated texting and marketing platform. For more information on ER Texting and our capabilities, please visitwww.ERtexting.com.
Get Your Local Hospital ER Wait Times Before getting There!
One of the newest breakthroughs in technology has hit the many hospitals in the South Florida area. A new texting platform dubbed ER texting was developed to make it easier for those experiencing a moderate to mild emergency to reach a local hospital. The emergency texting platform allows you to text your zipcode to 4ER411 and get participating local hospital ER wait times directly to your phone. Both hospitals and patients can benefit from this platform.
Hospitals will be able to:
-Drive traffic to their buildings
-Promote their practice
Patients can benefit by getting:
-Emergency medical assistance
-Immediate response of ER wait times, which will get you to the hospital faster
News has already surfaced in the south Florida area on how this platform has affected local hospitals.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e8f01f4b-225c-4696-8163-0bc972601481)
RSS Feed- Emergency Room Challenges: Options to Ease Overcrowding
- Baptist Health System, Birmingham Ala., Selects ERTexting for Communication of Emergency Room Wait Times
- Epic Snowstorm in Northeast Demonstrates Growing Role of Text Capability for Patients and Hospitals
- Press Ganey Associates Reports the Top 10 Metro Areas for Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction
Follow Us!
Business
