For a fee, users can arrive at the ER at an assigned time with the assurance they will be seen within 15 minutes, instead of spending an unknown amount of time sitting in the hospital waiting room.
Fees for the service, called InQuickER, range from $14.99-$24.99 and are paid on top of other costs of the ER visit, according to the report. The system is currently used at 15 hospitals and urgent care centers in states besides California, while eight California hospitals have adopted the service in the last year.
Critics say the ability to pay to secure appointments may encourage patients to use emergency rooms for non-emergency care, a problem that many hospitals are trying to fix in order to reduce cost. Physicians who support appointments say the system improves patient satisfaction and could decrease hospital-acquired infections, which can spread easily in the waiting room.
Read the Los Angeles Times report on InQuickER.
Read more on emergency departments:
–$808M Renovation Will Triple Size of NYU Langone’s Emergency Department
–Researchers Assess Accuracy of Radiology Readings in EDs
–Rapid Medical Screening Process Improves Patient Flow in EDs
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