Scottsdale, AZ-based Scottsdale Healthcare has taken an approach more common in the travel industry and put it to use in its emergency department. The health system has begun to post emergency department wait times on the front page of its website [1], which it defines as the time it will take a patient to get from the ED's front desk to an exam room. The system posts wait times for each of its three facilities, and wait times are updated every 10 minutes. Looking at the site today, visitors could see that one of its facilities has a seven-minute wait, and the other two no wait at all. This is a nifty marketing trick; I wonder if it helps reduce ED congestion as well?
To learn more about the hospital's ED wait time postings:
- read this press release [2]
Related Articles:
Hospitals slash ED wait times [3]
CDC report backs emergency department overcrowding charges [4]
Hospitals develop strategies to cope with ED overloads [5]
Hospitals charge fee for non-emergency ED visits [6]
Links:
[1] http://www.shc.org/welcome.asp
[2] http://www.shc.org/pdf/Press_ERWaitTimesPostedOnHospitalWebsite.pdf
[3] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hospitals-slash-ed-wait-times/2006-11-06
[4] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/cdc-report-backs-emergency-department-overcrowding-charges/2007-06-29
[5] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/editor-s-corner/2006-09-22
[6] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hospitals-charge-fee-for-non-emergency-ed-visits/2006-12-04