How should hospitals deal with long waits?

Historically, the vast majority of patients in the emergency room are not emergencies. Instead these patients are in need of urgent care that can best be taken care of in alternative setting. If one looks at these urgent care patients especially in the big city public hospital a sizable number are indigent. One other characteristic of these urgent care patients is that they do not have access to a primary care physician for whatever reason.

The optimal solution is to establish urgent care clinics adjacent to the emergency rooms. These clinics would also have function of treating the indigent as well and can serve as their primary care clinic.

When any patient presents at the emergency room, they are immediately triaged by a mid-level provider who can quickly discern whether the patient is seen in the emergency room as a bona fide emergency or is immediately transfered to the adjacent urgent care clinic.

Patients seen in the urgent care clinic can be best served by a treatment staff of mid-level providers working under the supervision of a family practice physician. The urgent care clinic would have basic ancillary services such as the ability to do flat plate films and basic lab tests. Any diagnostic testing that would exceed the abilities of the clinic would be funneled into the hospital.

A child or the elderly should NEVER wait long hours to see a dr. They have more problems than the middle aged group. If it was going to take so long, they should have been referred the nearest urgent care center or hospital.