Emerging Trend For Children's Hospitals: Urgent Care Center Wait Times Via Text Message

MIAMI, Fla., Nov. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The use of mobile technology for accessing emergency room wait times is an emerging trend among children's Hospitals. Recently, ER Texting, the leader in texting applications for the healthcare industry, successfully launched its services at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center (CCHMC). CCHMC joins the growing list of children's hospitals using ER Texting to provide wait times to parents of children visiting urgent care facilities. 

Parents in greater Cincinnati can now text " ccurgent " to 4 ER 411 and instantly receive the current wait times, hours of operation and direct contact information for the CCHMC's three urgent care facilities.

"When examining how to reach our patients and families, we knew we would have to meet them in the mobile space," commented Kurt Myers, Coordinator of Community Relations at CCHMC. "Providing an option to receive wait times via text was a logical first step into the mobile arena. Arming patients with information is one of the key components to achieving high patient satisfaction scores. We want our patients and families to know what to expect when coming to one of our urgent care centers. Additionally, the service allows families to self-select which of our three locations they want to visit, helping control patient flow."

In Florida, Miami Children's Hospital (MCH), who originally implemented the ER Texting service in 2011 (text " MCH " to 4 ER 411), has seen over 2,000 subscribers use the service to obtain current wait times at its various urgent care facilities, realizing a year-to-year increase of over 11% in urgent care traffic and improved patient experiences.

"The texting service demanded more transparency from the hospital," said Marcia Diaz de Villegas, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at MCH.  "In the end, it was a win for all, as patients are now getting more information and are able to make better decisions."

About ER Texting ER Texting provides texting services to hospitals and urgent care facilities that want to post their emergency room wait time and allow consumers to access those times via text message. By virtue of its dedicated and highly recognizable SMS short code 4 ER 411, ER Texting offers a complete, secure, compliant and integrated texting and marketing platform.  ER Texting's clients include many of the leading healthcare institutions in the United States.

SOURCE ER Texting

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