Yelp Disrupts ER Wait Time Transparency with Consumer-Powered Insights

Why Hospitals Should Stop Publishing Emergency Department Wait TimesThe inaccuracy of emergency department wait times reported by hospitals, coupled with the resulting consumer reviews regarding care experiences, makes it difficult for hospitals to leverage “wait times” as a competitive advantage in their marketing efforts.

Emergency patients all hope to know the waiting time required for an emergency visit, and hospitals are also striving to provide corresponding estimated times. However, in reality, this effort by hospitals has not achieved the expected results. Recently, HealthLeader Media analyzed and reported on this issue.

In the broader context of a market economy, every hospital strives to have patients choose its emergency department (ED) to secure a foothold in fierce market competition. The ED is regarded as the gateway to the hospital and as a pathway to cultivating lifelong patient loyalty. For instance, a patient may visit the ED for emergency care today, return for childbirth a year later, or come back several years later for other medical services.

For years, hospitals and health systems have strived to estimate and provide patients with potential wait times for the emergency department. Delivery channels include electronic displays, smartphone apps, and online widgets on hospital websites.

These approaches are relatively popular in market competition. Nevertheless, it remains controversial for hospitals to provide patients with estimated emergency department (ED) wait times. A key reason is that patients who check wait times often do not proceed to visit the ED and thus do not have an actual emergency care experience. Such patients should be guided to seek more appropriate healthcare service points, such as pharmacy partners affiliated with the hospital.

Inaccurate emergency room wait times reported by hospitals, coupled with a surge in consumer reviews about patient experiences, have made it difficult for hospitals to leverage “wait times” as a competitive advantage in their marketing efforts.

Incorrect Expectations
Last week, the Orlando website published a news report revealing that emergency room wait times provided by local hospitals were highly inaccurate.

Moreover, the staff at VCBeat appear to have conducted an in-depth investigation. They dispatched several “patients” who feigned illness to first check the wait times for medical consultations advertised by hospitals online, then call the emergency department to inquire about potential wait times, and finally arrive at the emergency room for “treatment.” Through this process, these “patients” quickly identified the discrepancy between the actual wait times and those provided by the hospitals.

The survey reports provided by these “patients” indicate significant discrepancies among the wait times listed on the hospital’s website, those displayed on electronic screens, and those communicated by emergency department staff. For example, one “patient” found an estimated wait time of over 60 minutes online, whereas emergency department staff quoted a wait time of four hours.

In response to the aforementioned press release, a spokesperson for Florida Hospital stated: “The view that there is a significant discrepancy between the emergency department wait times posted on our hospital’s website and the actual wait times is not entirely accurate. The volume of patients seen in the emergency department and the severity of their conditions are constantly changing. In accordance with regulations and actual circumstances, the emergency department assigns priority to certain patients, such as those facing life-threatening conditions or at risk of amputation. This triage process accounts for the observed differences.”

The significant discrepancy, measured in hours, between the emergency department wait times reported by hospitals and the actual wait times, along with the public’s reaction to this disparity, does not diminish patients’ confidence in hospitals. If the news content on the aforementioned website were to present the opposite scenario, it would not only create false expectations among patients regarding emergency care (leading them to believe that wait times would be short) but also result in a surge of patient visits to the emergency department. This presents a lose-lose situation for hospitals, offering no benefits to either their institutional development or to patients.

Yelp: A Game Changer
For hospitals, if the reported wait times for medical consultations are inaccurate, the media will not easily miss this topic. Now, Yelp has changed the rules of the game. Patients or others who suspect that the emergency wait times provided by hospitals are inaccurate no longer need to read news reports or even call the hospital to question them. They can now log in to the Yelp website and use relevant features to resolve their doubts or express their opinions.

Yelp is a consumer review platform that is highly popular in the United States. In August 2015, Yelp partnered with ProPublica, an independent investigative newsroom, to provide patients with easier access to data on public hospitals, including estimated emergency room wait times. ProPublica’s ER wait-time monitoring tool was not new in itself; however, the collaboration with Yelp significantly expanded its reach, bringing it to a much wider audience. Specifically, this partnership enabled more than 83 million people to access relevant data on public hospitals.

Luther Lowe, Vice Chairman of Strategy at Yelp, stated in a news report: “Many people believe that the Yelp platform can help them find excellent dining and accommodation options, which is certainly true. However, beyond that, Yelp now makes data previously confined to government documents accessible to the public, providing valuable references for making significant decisions. Such data was historically very difficult to obtain.”

In modern society, an increasing number of people are “shopping around” when selecting healthcare services. Against this backdrop, platforms like Yelp have gradually demonstrated their advantages. By integrating data with consumer reviews, Yelp and similar websites help individuals identify their preferred emergency care providers among numerous options, increasingly becoming the primary reference for patients seeking medical attention. Consequently, the emergency department wait times displayed on hospital websites are gradually losing their value.

Ultimately, the hospital’s attempt to boost patient volume by providing estimated emergency department wait times undermined its original commitment to patients, subverting their prior expectations before they even began the consultation process. The patient demographic that the hospital sought to cater to by disclosing wait times consists precisely of those who may not actually seek care or undergo the emergency department experience.

Therefore, rather than striving by all means to shorten wait times, hospitals would be better off focusing on improving their emergency medical services, prioritizing patient experience and service quality. Although patients desire information about waiting times, a strong service philosophy and positive experiences in the emergency department—more so than tools such as wait-time monitoring apps—are more likely to resonate with patients and leave a lasting impression.

Compiled by Zhang Fan
Editor: Mo Renying