title: 15-minute policy results in few refunds.
abstract: Emerus Emergency Hospitals, a licensed emergency specialty hospital company in Texas, has taken the bold step of guaranteeing patients they will be seen by a physician within 15 minutes or their visit is free. In the first six weeks of the policy, the deadline was missed only four times. Patients in distress are sent right back to a nurse. Complete registration takes only a few minutes. Nurses are cross-trained so that they often do not have to wait for others to complete labs or other tests. The radiology technician is in the ED and accountable to ED leadership.
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D016134:Organizational Policy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D013781:Texas; D013997:Time Factors