ER Wait Times: To Text or Not to Text?

That is the question and the answer is very simple.
If your hospital is focusing on ER admissions and generating
ER wait times under the staggering national average of 4 hours,
then yes, by all means, let people know about it. Texting
ER
wait times is one of the strongest arrows in the healthcare
marketing quiver.

In 2009, over 1.6 trillion--with a "tr"--texts were sent and received
in the United States alone. People are texting more than they
are
talking or e-mailing. Texting enables people to make a quick
decision
about which hospital provides the shortest ER wait time and that in
turn enables people to begin their positive patient experience.

Studies show that many hospitals that market their ER wait times have
shown double digit increases in ER admissions. Although this has
generally
meant a combination of tactics such as billboards, web site postings as
well as texting, the anecdotal evidence is there: people waking into the
ER, cell phone in hand, asking if the wait time is "really just 22
minutes?"

And speaking of people walking into the ER: some hospitals servicing
larger
populations have worried over the idea of creating a further burden on
their
already strained system. But think about this: marketing the text code
4ER411
to the marketplace is totally controlled by the hospital.
The hospital chooses who learns of the text code, how they learn about
it,
when they learn about it. It can be geo-targeted, age targeted,
demographically targeted, so the hospital can maintain better control
of their overall ER targeting.

If your hospital is trying to open up that front door just a bit
wider,
then promoting ER wait times is definitely the way to go.

written by Matthew Blakely