Emergency Room Wait Times (Dallas, Plano: live in, bill, medical)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by LarryTX

Forgive me but what do people mean when they say "Medical City". Is there one particular hospital in mind ?

Providing exceptional care for North Texas - Medical City Hospital

[JTC Mom]

We have found highland park emergency room on Lemmon to be a great option. They consider themselves an ER as opposed to an urgent care clinic (and bill your insurance accordingly). They are open 24 hours and offer a broader range of services than an urgent care, with almost no wait time. (We waited 10 min). Supposedly if you require admission to an inpatient hospital they can transfer you directly to one, bypassing the other hospital's ER, though we have never had to do this.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by mesmer

....or they were really sick.

After my grandmother had her stroke and then stabilized, the nursing home would shuttle her over to the ER with some regularity if she got worse in some way. This was not in Texas, however, so I cannot say for sure that's what they do here. But not everybody who uses the ER is a walk in - many come in with an ambulance. We're only going to see more hospital crowding as our population ages.

Well there are going to be people who are really sick and need to use the ER more than others. Parkland is in process of planning/building several community clinics to quell the push of people misusing the ER. It's a good idea IMO.

[billydoc]

There are many free-standing ERs, at least here in Plano, and i think in the entire metroplex too. We had to use it last spring. We went to the one on Preston Rd and Tennyson parkway. Mind you it was Sunday night and we were taken in right away. Of course, it's impossible to know in true emergency if you actually will have to be admitted into acute setting (hospital). But if you need emergency treatment and expect not to be admitted I'd go w/ free standing ER. They provide full scope of real ER (BTW they bill as such also). If it's not life threatening and it's not some unGodly hour of the night I'd go w/ Urgent care instead of ER, much less ER of any hospital.

[MurphyPl1]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

We have found highland park emergency room on Lemmon to be a great option. They consider themselves an ER as opposed to an urgent care clinic (and bill your insurance accordingly). They are open 24 hours and offer a broader range of services than an urgent care, with almost no wait time. (We waited 10 min). Supposedly if you require admission to an inpatient hospital they can transfer you directly to one, bypassing the other hospital's ER, though we have never had to do this.

Keep in mind that these stand alone ERs (including the Emerus/Baylor ones that are popping up) will require an ambulance ride to that hospital, so you'll have an additional ambulance charge to deal with.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

We have found highland park emergency room on Lemmon to be a great option. They consider themselves an ER as opposed to an urgent care clinic (and bill your insurance accordingly). They are open 24 hours and offer a broader range of services than an urgent care, with almost no wait time. (We waited 10 min). Supposedly if you require admission to an inpatient hospital they can transfer you directly to one, bypassing the other hospital's ER, though we have never had to do this.

Those types of clinics almost never accept Medicare as Medicare won't pay. Medicare doesn't consider them to be a true ER.

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

Those types of clinics almost never accept Medicare as Medicare won't pay. Medicare doesn't consider them to be a true ER.

That's right. In addition, for private insurance they are not preferred providers. If you have an emergency apparently Texas law requires your insurance to provide in network coverage rates to the individual even though the ER is not in network. So - I wouldn't go to a freestanding ER unless it is an emergency...wait until you can see your doc or go to an urgent care clinic. But for late night emergencies it is really wonderful to be able to go to a nearby ER and not wait. It worked great for us when we needed middle of the night care for our youngest.

[Otterhound]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

If you have an emergency apparently Texas law requires your insurance to provide in network coverage rates to the individual even though the ER is not in network. So - I wouldn't go to a freestanding ER unless it is an emergency...wait until you can see your doc or go to an urgent care clinic. But for late night emergencies it is really wonderful to be able to go to a nearby ER and not wait.

I wasn't aware of these freestanding ERs until I read this thread. Apparently the law uses a "prudent layperson standard" to determine what is an emergency. So if you are a reasonable person and you consider it an emergency, it is an "emergency" for the law.

On the other hand, even though your insurance company has to pay in-network rates, the out-of-network ER docs can "balance bill" you for the difference between their standard rate and the in-network rate. For example, if the insurance plan's in-network rate is $100 and the out-of-network doctors rate is $250, that Doc can bill you for the $150 balance.

So it looks to me like these ERs are a great option if you (1) have private insurance and (2) have some savings and can cope with some surprise extra bills.

[JTC Mom]

I think that's a fair assessment. To put it in perspective in our situation - the total bills were over $3k for our late night visit and we ended up paying a total of about $500 out of pocket. If we had gone to the ER at a regular hospital, I suspect it would have been less...maybe by about half, based on prior experience. That was definitely worth it for me to have my 2 year old Seen right away as he was in a lot of pain and they were able to hp him, even though his condition was not life threatening. These freestanding ERs definitely fill a need...at a price. I would use it again, but only in an emergency, after hours.

[Lakewooder]

I've been to Baylor ER three times recently with my mother twice and another elderly lady - two time on Friday nights. They had falls on the Friday nights and were just getting checked out (both were ok). Really had no problems waiting to get in, it was very fast. It did take some time to run tests and there were some distractions inside with others coming in, but really it went very smoothly. In one case my mother came by ambulance and I actually beat it to the ER because I live about five minutes away.