Hospitals using technology to reach more patients

SALT LAKE CITY — If you drive down I-15, the signs are literally there, indicating wait times at nearby hospital emergency rooms.

Log on to some hospital websites, and you will find a prominent banner also informing potential patients how long they might wait if they needed immediate medical treatment.

It's a recent tactic added to the marketing arsenal of a few Utah health care providers in an attempt to show potential clients the options they have if they would require urgent medical care.

"The whole goal is to get (patients) care as quickly as possible," said Audrey Glasby, public relations director for MountainStar Healthcare.

Last month, MountainStar launched a new service in Utah targeting people who need care for nonlife-threatening medical emergencies, utilizing electronic billboards and mobile phone technology where people can send a text from a smart phone or cell phone and receive an average ER wait time at the nearest MountainStar facility.

The billboards are updates regularly using "a rolling four-hour average," said Dr. Pete DeWeerd, emergency care physician at St. Mark's Hospital.

"They take average wait times over the last four hours and update them every 30 minutes," he added.

Glasby said the use of technology has been implemented at other HCA-owned hospitals around the country. She also said part of the push for improved technology access is to reach more people, particularly the younger demographic who increasingly use technology to communicate and get information.

"Informed and educated patients are happier patients," she said.

MountainStar operates several facilities in Utah, including St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Lone Peak Emergency Center in Draper and Ogden Regional Medical Center. The company is a subsidiary of Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corp. of America.

Each of the Iasis Healthcare-owned facilities in Utah has also taken to using technology to improve service to patients.

Also based in Nashville, Iasis operates Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton, Jordan Valley Medical Center in West Jordan, Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley and Salt Lake Regional Medical Center.

Each facility offers information on ER wait times on their individual Web pages.

"The trend for the new generation is about ... quick, immediate information ," said Jodi DeJong, marketing director for Jordan Valley and Pioneer Valley hospitals. "It's a way that we can help consumers make a decision (on their health care provider)."

She said her facilities have utilized online banners on their individual websites to detail ER wait times for about three months, and they have also launched a mobile-phone application as an additional option to help service patients.

While some providers are employing unconventional means to market their services, the state's largest hospital company is evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy.

"At this point, we are not putting up billboards," Jess Gomez, spokesman for Intermountain Healthcare, said. "Before doing that, we'd want to ensure that wait times are real and accurate and that this information doesn't create confusion among consumers."

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com