Pay fee to be seen faster at the emergency room [View All]

[Liberal_in_LA]

Making an appointment for the emergency room a growing trend

Eight Southern California hospitals have signed up for a system called InQuickER that lets patients pay a fee of $14.99 to $24.99 to set up an appointment online for emergency care. If they're not seen within 15 minutes, they get their money back.


Lakewood Regional Medical Center last week joined a small but growing number of Southern California hospitals that allow patients to make emergency room appointments online. In exchange for a fee, instead of sitting in a waiting room wondering how long they'll have to wait, users can show up at the assigned time with the assurance they will be seen within 15 minutes or get their money back.

In a region where it's routine for emergency room patients at public hospitals to wait half a day or longer to be treated — depending on the complaint — some say the move makes "good business sense."

"It does not interfere with treating true emergencies on a priority basis; and charging a modest fee discourages tampering," said Jim Lott, spokesman for the Southern California Hospital Assn., of offering appointments to patients who want to use emergency rooms for "an urgent, but non-emergency condition."

Fees for the service, called InQuickER, range from $14.99 to $24.99 and are in addition to other costs for the emergency room visit. Officials at the Nashville-based company said that since the system was launched in 2006, 95% of appointments have been kept successfully. Patients must be 18 or older to make an appointment. Those with life-threatening symptoms such as chest pains are told to proceed directly to the emergency room.

http://www.latimes.com/news/health/la-me-er-waits-20110130,0,7005311.story