New Jersey Hospitals Advertise Wait Times to Draw Patients

Tags: advertising | case volume | New Jersey hospitals | wait times

Several New Jersey hospitals are touting low wait times in an effort to attract patients, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center recently unveiled two billboards in Jersey City that advertise the hospital's emergency room wait times. The billboards are updated with current wait times several times a day.

Christ Hospital in Jersey City plans to display its wait times on its website, an idea that a Christ Hospital spokesman said was in the works before Bayonne revealed its billboards. Jersey City Medical Center also said its wait times are comparable to Bayonne's, sitting at an average of 37 minutes in the past three months.

Bayonne CEO Dan Kane told the Wall Street Journal that his competitors' claims of comparable wait times were exaggerated. According to Mr. Kane, the hospital engaged an outside research firm that found patients wait three times longer at JCMC and two and a half times longer at Christ Hospital than they do at his facility.

Read the Wall Street Journal report on New Jersey hospital wait times.

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