California hospitals implement ED scheduling systems--for a fee

Make an appointment for emergency care? It's not as far-fetched as you may think.

At least two Southern California hospitals are installing systems to offer automated ER scheduling over the Internet, allowing patients with conditions that aren't life- or limb-threatening, but that need emergent care, to choose the time they want to come in. It may not shorten the time it takes to see a doctor, but it will allow people to wait at home rather than in the less-comfortable environment of an ER, the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times reports.

Loma Linda University Medical Center has gone live with a system from Dalton, Ga.-based InQuickER, and San Antonio Community Hospital in nearby Upland should have the software in place in about a month. For a $24.99 charge, patients are guaranteed to be seen by a doctor, physician's assistant or nurse within 15 minutes of the appointed time. Loma Linda currently holds one slot per hour for online reservations, but will be able to offer more in a month when the hospital completes an ER expansion.

For hospitals, the goal is to reduce bottlenecks during peak hours, between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., and perhaps to recoup some operating costs. But the main reason for the fee is to prevent patients from "gaming the system" by scheduling an appointment while waiting in another hospital's emergency department, Loma Linda ED chief Dr. Robert Steele tells the Times.

InQuickER also has "live" clients in Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. One customer the company won't be getting is an unspecified Catholic Healthcare West hospital in the Contra Costa area. That facility's ED medical director, Dr. Brian Bearie, calls the system "a great idea and a good approach," but notes that new efficiencies have helped reduce waiting times to six minutes. "We treat everyone expeditiously and are not going to worry about appointment times," Bearie says.

To learn more:
- read this Contra Costa Times article
- visit the InQuickER website

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