Survey Says: Customers Make Use Of Posted ER Wait Times

MIAMI, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ER Texting, a provider of turnkey text message services to the healthcare industry, recently released the results of a survey of customers that make use of its services to access posted ER wait times via text message. 

The company conducted interviews of just over 1,000 individuals who used the ER Texting service during the course of 2012. These were all individuals who texted to 4ER411 in order to ascertain the wait time at the emergency rooms and/or urgent care centers of participating facilities.  The aim of the survey was to better understand the reasons for customer usage of the service, the results of which were:

• 94% – Selecting a facility to visit
• 81% – Determining a convenient time, based on the lowest wait time, when to visit a facility
• 71% – Finding the most conveniently located facility

In terms of customer perceptions of facilities promoting wait times, the results were as follows:

• 91% – Believed that a facility was more technologically advanced due to the promoting of wait times
• 88% – Believed that a facility cared more about them than those facilities who did not post their wait times
• 83% – Believed that a facility respected their time more than those facilities who did not post their wait times

When those surveyed were asked if they trusted the wait times posted, 92% responded positively. Furthermore, over 87% of those surveyed said their emergency room wait time expectations were met when they actually arrived at the chosen facility. 

Providing emergency room and urgent care center wait times improves patient satisfaction scores; delivers greater hospital transparency; provides for better patient volume balancing and increased efficiency and ultimately increases patient visits making a significant impact to revenue generation.  Posting wait times aligns with consumers' expectations and is a determining factor when selecting a hospital for emergency care. 

1 2 Next › Last »