We sincerely hope our readers will not be availing themselves of emergency rooms (emergency departments) over this holiday and end of summer weekend…but if you do, at least in some areas in the US, hospitals are communicating their ER wait times via smartphone apps, text messaging, websites and even billboards (yes!). MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, MA, launched an ad campaign promoting 30-minute “door-to-doc” ER service and patient volume rose 6%. In this article from HealthLeaders Media, advertising ER wait times is proposed as the healthcare marketing trend that will define 2010. We report, you decide. . MetroWest Medical article. Hat tip to reader Bill Oravecz of WTO Associates.
Steve and I wish you a safe and happy end of summer weekend! 