Hospitals vow speedy care in emergency rooms

Coming from someone who works full time, pays taxes, and drove HERSELF to an urgent care center, instead of calling an ambulance, only to find that they were closed, before going to the ER. I then received an $880 bill in the mail for a urinalysis... That is sick and evil and should make medical professionals ashamed of themselves. Medical care, even in emergencies, should not be out of reach for normal people. Perhaps $880 isn't a big deal to you, but it's a couple weeks pay for some people.

if the doctor paid them for their time as a patient. What we have is a health care system that is doing its best, but because Americans want everything, but refuse to pay for it, we have a dilemma. We have a capitalist system that is trying to provide socialist services. HALF of the people who go to the hospital, DO NOT PAY. They pay NADA. A bill gets sent, but the people ignore it, and we feel sorry for them and they don't have to pay. The hospital is a business, so in order to compensate, the cost to people who DO pay gets DOUBLED. Since there are unscrupulous people in all businesses, there will be dishonesty, as you could expect when this much money is involved. Since so many people don't think they should bear any responsibility for their own health care, the system gets abused by people using the ER as their primary care provider, and the FD as a cabulance. And somehow, this becomes the fault of greedy doctors and administrators. I for one, want hospitals profitable and doctors well paid. I want people to WANT to do these jobs.

Has the Pilot hit such hard times that they've sunk to reporting on local advertising campaigns? Is what "many other ERs" already do actually newsworthy? - and on the front page no less!! Is tomorrow's headline that a local bank is offering toaster with new accounts? Come on! Have you heard, there's a big war going on in the Middle East. We have a new president starting in the week. And don't forget, we're actually still in a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please try reporting on only newsworthy items.

"Great Idea!
Submitted by VBresident on Mon, 01/12/2009 at 9:11 pm.
I like it! If it doesn't work, they will stop the program and free tickets. Now if we could get the local ambulance service to provide the same 30 minute service."

They can't...if it's anything like up here in Philly, they're too busy picking up stubbed toes, hangnails, and fevers when they didn't take any OTC meds...

"Take an ambulance, get seen faster" is the motto......

What a joke. Forget the movie tickets. How about someone that is in charge do what they are paid for? If you go to the ER the Dr.'s and Nurses are talking on their cell phones - about going to a party - doing whatever. A bunch of NO-ONE's doing their job. The ER is nasty, the cleaning people are too busy talking bull_whatever to do what they are supposed to do. This is a sad place and could be much better with proper management. Thank God for Dr. George Sarris who doesn't put up with this BS when his patients are in the ER. The whole hospital needs a good cleaning. Have the Dr.'s and Nurses and the cleaning crew DO THEIR JOBS.................... Quit bull talking.

What about cheaper services? If I wait more than 30 minutes, take 1/3 off my bill...better yet, don't even SEND me a bill. How about not charging $20 for a bandage? How about not charging people $400 just to WALK IN THE DOOR? Free movie tickets are almost an insult.

Whos taxes or infalted bills are paying for the movie tickets and the person they hired to write all the letters?

If they can do it in 30 minutes or less now then why couldn't they have been doing it all along? This is what makes me think it's a marketing tool. But I'll give someone credit, they got The Pilot to give them front page print and web!! Can you say Employee of the Month??

It's true -- you are seen within 30 minutes by someone who is not very nice as they take your insurance information. I had to keep coming back to the desk to fill out paperwork and could barely walk from the pain I was in. The ER has hard metal chairs which were agonizing to sit in when I could barely sit upright in the first place. I only received care a few hours later after I passed out on their bathroom floor and was found by a janitor. Once I had a bed, the care was excellent.

You can do anything you want by offering the 30 mins or less, but if the care is crappy what good is it? I would rather sit at another hospital and wait for hours, at least I know that I would come out alive. I have know several people that have not made it out of several Bon Secour hospitals alive!! Granted, other hopitals have made there mistakes as well, but Bon Secour has taken several people away from me, due to misdiagnosising patients, from chest pains (informed that it was gas) ended up being a massive heart attack which killed them. Another one, someone came in with low blood pressure, they were informed that they could not do anything to help them, and a Bon Secour hoptial sent them home and they died the next day because of a heart attack. And don't even get me started on them reading xrays!!! So this is what I was thinking, instead of offering movie tickets, they should use the money on training of the staff. I personally would not even take my animals there. Reality is they really need to work on alot of other things before working on 30 mins or less.
To make thing even better, people should use the ER for EMERGENCIES, NOT for colds(unless they are really re

After reading several of the comments, I realized that the US healthcare industry does a poor job educating people when to go to the emergency dept. As some who has worked at an academic, level I trauma center, people use the Emergency Dept (ED) for anything from a stubbed toe to a hang nail instead of visiting either their primary care physician or a local Urgent Care. Contrary to what most people think, it is NOT the uninsured who clogged the nation's ED. It is people WITH insurance who tax the departments' resources. These are the same people who will call an ambulance because the have a fever, thinking they will be seen quicker. Generally, these people go to the waiting room, particularly, if they haven't tried OTC medications before calling. Not ALL patients who arrive by ambulance get a bed. These folks get triaged too and will be sent to the waiting room!!!!

Physicians and nurses don't help the situation. Often, when it is time for a doctor's office to close and they got a late case, instead of either seeing the patient, they will send them to the ED to be evaluated, and ED docs will either discharge patient, advising to follow-up with his/her physician or admi

Marketing...yes...I would agree. However, lest we not forget that ERs are the primary source of medical treatment for those who are uninsured, perhaps even under-insured, which contributes significantly to the crowds and wait times in the ER. When it comes to ER service, I think I'll take my chances in a no-guarantee timeframe ER since I'm not looking for fast food. Leave the 30 minutes or less to Domino's!

So.... I take that when you walk in to this place with a hang nail you punch a time clock and a nurse shoves a thermometer in your mouth. 30 minutes or less or the thermometer is free along with popcorn, a slice of pizza, a pre-written apology, and a movie. I would have thought that Bon Secours and the like would open a small clinic withg really late or 24 hour service for NON emergencies and leave the regular hospital emergency rooms for just EMERGENCIES.

I went to an emergency room thinking my appendix had burst and waited 5 hours before passing a couple of kidney stones alone in the lobby restroom with no pain meds. It was like nothing I could have imagined. After they passed, I felt much better and asked the nurse if I could just go. She suggested I give them a urine sample so they could make sure it was kidney stones, so I did (also in the main lobby restroom). I waited for results that confirmed it, then went home. I received a bill for $880 for that urinalysis...

I like it! If it doesn't work, they will stop the program and free tickets. Now if we could get the local ambulance service to provide the same 30 minute service.

When I first read the headline I thought it was a joke. It sounds like something out of The Simpsons: getting free movie tickets if you have to wait more than 30 minutes to get treated in an emergency room.
Triage is what separates the serious emergencies from those that need minor care. I've walked into emergency rooms with serious problems, the waiting room crowded, and have gotten care right away. I've also waited in the emergency room for hours with a worrisome pain somewhere - all because the people doing triage didn't think what I was going through warranted immediate care. I say leave the trained medical staff to do their job and get rid of such ridiculous promotional schemes as this.

"We feel starting their treatment within 30 minutes is the best quality we can guarantee"

All this means is the nurse or PA in triage will order some labs or xrays. At that point your treatment has been started. You'll still sit out in the waiting area for hours...waiting, possibly in pain - but your treatment has been started. This is marketing...deceptive at best; and should not be legal! Don't believe me?...vist any Bon Secour ED on a Monday evening - see what happens.

“When people come to the emergency room it’s with high anxiety."

No, its supposed to be with an emergency; not a sniffle and a hope to win a pair of free movie tickets.

If you're in an ER for something that isn't an emergency you should wait longer than 30 minutes and be asked apologize to the overworked hospital employees who you inconvenience by being too lazy and inconsiderate to schedule an appointment to see your own doctor or visit a clinic. Why do you think people have these long waits in the 1st place?

This is a slap in the face of ER workers who will be further overworked and inconvenienced by this stupidity.

It should have an asterisk saying it's only for people who are actually going to pay their bill. Not all the indigents that plug up the ER with colds, who never pay a dime into the system, that drive up the rates for the people who do pay their way.

The last time I took someone on a Drs. recommendation to Sentara Norfolk General after hours, we sat there for over three hours and only got through initial screening. Never saw a nurse or dr.- we ended up leaving and calling our primary care physician who took care of us. Unless you are brought in by a helicopter or ambulance I doubt if much has changed.