ER patients can pay to go to the front of the line

Sometimes, the waiting is the hardest part. You’re sitting in a crowded emergency room, sick or injured, wondering when they’ll call your name. Now you have a chance to go to the head of the line.

Making a decision to go to the ER is an easy call if you have a gunshot wound, uncontrolled bleeding, or chest pain, for example. Other times, it’s more difficult.

So, when a call to 911 or a mad dash in the family car doesn’t seem necessary, some hospitals are now offering emergency room appointments.

Kaiser Health News reports Dignity Health, a San Francisco-based health system, now offers online ER booking at some of its hospitals. Patients typically pay a fee to book an appointment time, which guarantees they’ll be seen in a certain window of time.

Let’s say you have a kidney stone, an ear ache or maybe a sprained ankle. Perhaps you can’t get a doctor appointment right away and maybe you think it’s too serious for an urgent care clinic. You can now pay a fee, typically $9.99 and get an ER appointment and make yourself comfortable at home instead of sitting in the hospital waiting room, where wait times can sometimes reach an hour or more. In essence, the reservation system holds your place in line.

But is it fair to allow appointments for ER visits? What would you think if you were waiting at the ER and somebody came strolling in with a similar illness or injury and was seen right away?

“It seems more like we’re providing a specialty service at that point, or privileged service and the emergency departments are set up to be there for patients, whenever they feel they have a true emergency,” one doctor critical of the new service told WPRI TV.

Some doctors say the appointment system improves care because they know what’s coming in and they can pull a patient’s chart.

Hospitals emphasize that appointments are not for people with life-threatening emergencies. A company that manages ER appointments said it will flag a patient with true emergencies.

“And if they type in something like chest pain or bleeding or numbness, we’ll actually stop them and say based on what you told us, you need to call 911,” said emergency room doctor Dino Rumoro.

Critics question if the online ER appointment system is cost-effective, suggesting that it encourages people to get expensive ER treatment when primary care or urgent care might be a better option.

Some urban hospitals are in competition for patients, including emergent patients and online emergency room appointments might be another way to build patient loyalty and gain an edge.