Health System Understands Importance of Posting ER Wait Times
Filed under: Emergency Services, ER Facts, ER Reviews, Other, Wait Times Health Services
Many hospitals and health systems are now realizing the importance of posting their Emergency Room wait times as it relates to patient satisfaction. One of these is Ochsner Health System. This health system is made up of five emergency departments who are located within 10 miles from each other.
An article written by Ochsner health system explained how the need to post ED wait times arose after experiencing “a significant load imbalance from one emergency department to the other in that one or two emergency departments at any given time were overloaded with high-volume and the others underutilized.”
The health system decided to make their ER wait times available to their patients by posting them on their website. The benefits of posting wait times, whether through a website or through a texting service such as ERTexting are many. The article describes how the hospitals were expected to experience “immediately greater load leveling and that the less busy EDs would get busier and busier EDs would be avoided, achieving better balance across the system.”
Another of the benefits of making wait times available deals with patient satisfaction. Patients will be attended to in a timely manner, after choosing the hospital with less wait times. The transparency of posting ER wait times will help meet patient’s expectations and give the best result for the hospital.
Need to Visit the Emergency Room? For a Small Fee You Can Make an Appointment
Filed under: Emergency Services, ER Facts, ER Reviews, Other, Wait Times Health Services
A recent article written by the LA Times discussed how eight Southern California hospitals are now part of a system called InQuickEr, in which patients pay a monthly fee of $14.99 up to $24.99 giving them the ability to set up an online appointment for emergency care. This gives the patients the guarantee that they will be seen within 15 minutes of their arrival at the emergency department or they will receive their money back.
One of the hospitals which is now offering this service is Lakewood Regional Medical Center. Life-threatening emergencies will still be given priority. According to the LA Times, critics of the service worry that “letting people pay to secure appointments may just encourage patients who do not need immediate care to use emergency rooms anyway.” Reducing the ER wait-times of people who can afford the monthly fees, will increase the patient-satisfaction of said patients, but what happens to the rest?
With ERtexting this wouldn’t be an issue. It is a texting service that allows you to post your hospitals’ emergency room wait times making it available to anyone in the community. Since 4.5 billion people own a mobile phone world-wide, it makes this a valuable and highly accessible service while boosting patient satisfaction. For more information visit the ERtexting website.
Why Use a Texting Service to Post Wait Times?
As the need to provide ER wait times increases, so do the many different methods you can use to do so. From the internet, to phone applications to texting, the options are various. But the question is, why should you choose a texting service? In this article we will go over some of the many reasons why this would benefit your hospital and increase patient satisfaction.
According to the GSM Association, as of 2009 there were approximately 4.5 billion people who own a mobile phone. This translates to more than half of the world’s population which now stands at 6.8 billion. If we concentrate on the United States, approximately 90% of Americans own a mobile phone. An outstanding 1.5 trillion text messages were sent two years ago, and the numbers keep rising. These mobile phones are with us at all times, which makes it convenient to check ED wait times when the need arises.
Although there are cellular phone applications out there which will also show wait times, not everyone owns a smart phone, but most people are able to receive a text message. ERtexting is an efficient way to move forward, and allow patients to know your hospital’s emergency room wait times any time, any place.
Importance of Providing ER Wait Times
Filed under: Emergency Services, ER Facts, Other, Wait Times Health Services
A recent article by the Philadelphia Inquirer discussed the importance of providing patients with ER wait times. Many hospitals are now posting their ED wait times on their websites. One of these is Hahnemann University Hospital, where a clock on their site shows the time patients will have to wait once they arrive at the emergency room.
Alan Zuckerman, president of consulting firm Health Strategies & Solutions in Philadelphia stated “I think it will become very routine in a matter of a couple of years”. He understands how consumers expect to be informed about different matters, whether it is knowing about a delayed flight through a text service, or on the highway where signs tells them driving times between major junctions.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, many more hospitals are now joining the bandwagon. It explains how “Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Dallas, is posting wait times for 40 of its 49 hospitals”. St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network has done the same for its Allentown and Bethlehem Emergency rooms, among others.
Keeping patients informed has never been easier, whether it is through your website or through a texting service. Knowing how long they will have to wait through a user friendly, convenient text service, will guarantee patient satisfaction.
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
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
