Hospitals pledge low ER wait times to win patients over

In an effort to gain patients, hospitals are pledging low emergency department (ED) wait times. For example, Arizona's Northwest Medical Center says that emergency patients should not have to wait longer than 30 minutes to see a provider.

"We believe this service pledge will distinguish us from other health-care providers in the area...," said Northwest Medical Center CEO Kevin Stockton in an Arizona Daily Star article.

The pledge, which began last month, is aimed at getting physicians to see emergency patients within 30 minutes. Although the pledge isn't a guarantee, it shows the hospital is dedicated to getting patients seen in a timely manner, according to Northwest Medical Center spokeswoman Kimberly Chimene. The hospital posts average wait times from the previous week on its website, although it plans to update the information every 15 minutes in the future, Chimene said.

"The 30-minute ER pledge should not be misinterpreted as an effort to rush patients though the ER," Stockton said. "Our process improvements focus on getting ER patients into a treatment room as quickly as possible, enabling our physicians to see a patient and begin diagnosis and treatment in a timely manner."

The national average for total wait time in 2009 was 4 hours and 7 minutes, according to a 2010 Press Ganey study, reports the Arizona Daily Star. In addition, emergency department use rose from 123.7 million visits in 2008 to 136 million in 2009, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, notes the NJ Spotlight.

With more patients using the emergency department, posting wait times not only is a competitive method but also can have financial benefits.

New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital also has taken a similar pledge called the 15/30 pledge, that is, a patient will get a medical evaluation 15 minutes upon arrival and then an exam in 30 minutes.

With dedicated zones, a physician, two nurses, and a technician treat patients without having to walk back and forth. The approach also affects overall hospital admissions, as 70 percent of admissions come through the ER, according to the article.

Oregon's Bay Area Hospital, which has added a second triage room, reduced patient registration paperwork, and improved access to lab results, has also trimmed its total ER wait times by a third during the past decade, according to a Coos Bay World article.

"The E.D. is the most expensive place to receive medical care anywhere, so if you can shave a few minutes off a length of stay the dollar savings are just huge," David Gorbutt, director of critical care services at Bay Area Hospital, said in the article.

For more information:
- read the Arizona Daily Star article
- check out the Northwest website for wait times
- read the NJ Spotlight article
- read the Coos Bay World article

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To post or not to post ED wait times?
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Is ER text messaging service just a marketing ploy?

Editor's note: This article was updated on 11/1 for clarification.