SMS Can Make Life Saving Emergency Room Visits Time Saving Too

ER Texting, Inc., a Miami, Florida-based healthcare technology company, says a growing number of hospitals are embracing SMS/Texting programs inside the emergency room.

“We know that information in the hands of patients helps drive satisfaction,” says Jeffrey Finkelstein, chief of emergency medicine at Hospital of Central Connecticut (HCC), which implements ER Texting services. “This service helps us to be transparent to our patients, even before they arrive at one of our campuses.”

Via the ER Texting platform utilized by HCC and other facilities, patients are able to send a text message to a dedicated SMS short code (4ER411) in order to instantly receive a message that lists the emergency room wait times for participating hospitals in their area.

Naturally, the mobile application then allows patients to locate hospitals with the shortest wait times using any mobile phone.

While the technology was originally marketed as a means to drive traffic to emergency rooms, hospital executives have discovered the added benefits of improved patient satisfaction and load balancing. These are two of the additional reasons why the Hospital of Central Connecticut (HCC) implements ER Texting services.

ER Texting says the system can be implemented for a single hospital or a group of hospitals. The company works with the participating hospital to create a live wait-time feed.

“The hospital then incorporates the 4ER411 message in its advertising campaigns,” ER Texting explains in a press release issued this week. “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.”