Miami-based company introduces ER Texting services for national hospital chain

ER Texting, Inc., a Miami-based healthcare technology company today announced the launch of its ER Texting services for hospitals nationwide. Using ER Texting, patients can send a text message to a dedicated number (4ER411) and instantly receive a message in return which lists the emergency room wait times for participating hospitals in their area. The innovative application enables patients to find hospitals with short wait times and helps hospitals market efficient emergency rooms and emergency departments.

“Studies show that up to 60 percent of emergency room visits are not life-threatening and that when a patient has an emergency, one of the first questions asked is which hospital will see me quickly”

The executives who started ER Texting have pioneered the concept of marketing short wait times at hospitals and previously launched a major ER text messaging campaign for a national hospital chain.

“Studies show that up to 60 percent of emergency room visits are not life-threatening and that when a patient has an emergency, one of the first questions asked is which hospital will see me quickly,” said ER Texting vice president George Moore. “In some instances, an emergency room that is only a few minutes further away has a much shorter wait time. With ER Texting in place, a patient will be seen faster, and the emergency department with a short wait time is rewarded.”

The system can be implemented for a single hospital or a hospital chain. ER Texting, Inc. works with the hospital to create a live wait-time feed. The hospital then incorporates the 4ER411 message in its advertising campaigns. When patients have an emergency, they send a text message to 4ER411 and instantly receive a text message reply which lists the hospital’s short wait time. Patients immediately determine actual current wait times at local hospitals and go to the one that is providing the shortest wait at that time. By publishing wait times, hospitals enjoy greater patient satisfaction through the setting of realistic expectations for the patient and also realize gains in efficiency through better balancing of patient loads in their ERs.

“In our fast-paced world, patients don’t want to wait during an emergency even though the national average wait time for hospitals and urgent care facilities exceeds four hours,” said Moore. “Hospitals using ER Texting can market efficient ER departments using text messaging, which exemplifies speed.”

Apart from utilizing the service to advertise a hospital’s short ER wait time, the ER Texting system also gathers and creates a database for participating hospitals which can be used for outbound texting messages of interest to patients within their service area.