According to the Centers for Disease Control, over 136 million people show up at their local emergency rooms each year seeking medical care.
That’s roughly 43 percent of the total U.S. population and, if you’re like most people, it might seem as though you are standing behind most of them whenever you head to the hospital for emergency care.
The Sebastian River Medical Center and ER Express, a privately-held Atlanta-based company, have come with a partial solution. They are currently rolling out a program they hope will mollify would-be emergency room patients who, simply put, “just hate to wait” by allowing them to make “reservations.”
By using the ER Express software platform, participating hospitals such as SRMC make it possible for patients to use their smartphones, computers or tablets to “book” a time to be seen by the emergency room medical staff.
According to SRMC’s emergency department director Brad Guffin, “There is actually a push from corporate headquarters to roll this out in all their emergency departments. Everyone that’s used it has loved it.”
In the early 2000s, another tech company launched a somewhat similar program in response to ER wait times. However, that company charged would-be patients a fee ranging from $12 to $24.99.
That didn’t end up being a winning strategy, as consumers soon discovered their reservations were contingent. By law, all ERs in the United States must see the most seriously ill or injured first, so even after paying $25 for a quick trip, patients still ended up waiting in the vinyl chairs.
Happily, SRMC’s ER Express charges no fee for its service and those who log on to the website – www.SebastianERNow.com – are expressly told, “Because our emergency room staff must treat patients based on the severity of illness or injury, your ER Check-In time is not guaranteed.”
Nonetheless, Community Health Systems, SRMC’s parent company since 2014, is instituting ER Express at all its hospital locations. The past few weeks have been something of a “soft opening” at the Sebastian facility, but a major marketing push will begin shortly.
“It is the wave of the future,” according to Guffin. He added that SRMC had to “meet certain criteria” in order to participate in the program.
The reservation system comes with some built-in safeguards. For example, when people are filling out the online registration form, certain key words such as “chest pains” or “shortness of breath” will trigger an automated response telling that patient to immediately call 911 or his or her nearest emergency room by phone.
However, there is also a caveat that should be mentioned in this age of digital data-mining and high-profile hacking incidents.
The privacy disclaimer on the ER Express website states: “We store all personal information until you request that we modify or delete it. Upon your request, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to remove all your personal information from our records; however, it may be impossible to remove your account without some residual information being retained. If you would like to request that we remove your personal information from the website, please contact us.”
Still, if you’re one of the millions and millions of Americans who “just hate to wait” at the ER, concern about residual information may not loom very large.
The Sebastian River Medical Center is at 13695 U.S. Highway 1 in Sebastian. The main number is 772-589-3186. For life-threatening situations, call 911.
