Some emergencies don’t give you the luxury of thinking about time management. You simply call 911 to get to the first available hospital.
Other emergency room visits aren’t really dire emergencies. In fact, in many places, the ER has become almost a primary care facility for people who don’t have health insurance.
No matter how serious or not-so-serious the emergency, no one likes to be kept waiting in the ER. For this reason, ER Texting created a service that allows patients to text “4ER411” to find out the wait times associated with participating emergency and urgent care facilities in their areas.
Recently, the company surveyed 1,000 people who used the service to find out what motivated them to text for an ER wait time. According to the survey, 94 percent of patients used the information in the moment to choose which local facility to visit.
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Eighty-one percent of patients used the service to learn over time which times of day were best for visiting their favorite facilities. If their favorite hospital had slow periods in the afternoon, then they chose that time to go in for a visit.
Patients also developed certain perceptions of facilities based on whether or not they supported ER Texting. Major positive perceptions included the idea that the facility was more “technologically advanced” than other facilities, that the facility cared more about patients and that the facility respected its patients’ time.
Hospitals that participate in the program may expect higher patient satisfaction scores. According to the survey, nine out of 10 patients trusted the wait times posted by ER Texting and said that their expectations were met when they arrived at the facility.
For ERs in medium-sized or large cities, a service like ER Texting could distribute traffic more effectively. If one ER is swamped, then patients can use the wait time information to choose another facility. Additionally, patients can learn the best times of day to make non-emergency visits.
A little customer choice, in other words, could go a long way toward helping busy hospitals provide better healthcare.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
