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InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

inquicker.com

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Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#21

Post by garndt »

Adrenalist wrote: post #13
absconditus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The drugstore clinics can certainly handle ear infections. There are also urgent care facilities in most areas that can be utilized.

I'm not sure what your qualifications are, but I've given mine -- a parent of 3 kids. Drugstores (in my area, anyways) are NOT able to handle ear infections because antibiotics require a physicians prescription. Urgent care facilities are always preferable to ER visits because they cost less for the patient and permit ER staff to handle true emergencies, there there are many instances where urgent care just isn't an…

I'm not sure how being a parent provides qualification in assessing the practicality of this startup, but if it does, then I would like to weigh in on this issue as I am a parent of 2. These clinics are typically staffed at least by a nurse practitioner, who can treat and prescribe medications (depending on the state) for almost any reasonable non-urgent condition, including antibiotics. If you live in a state where the nurse practitioner can not prescribe medications, there is usually a physician on staff that works along side the NP to assist in those situations. These clinics sell themselves as being non-urgent care facilities that are able to treat conditions that otherwise would have required a physician or Emergency room visit. If they could not prescribe medications and treat most of these conditions, I am unsure how successful they would really be.

Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#23

Post by matt1 »

cadalac wrote: post #15

Wow I think you have a great idea. We really need something like this in Canada. What are your rates? I couldn't find them on the site. Oh, and one last question: where you funded by YC?

To answer one of your questions... From the registration page: "Your credit card will be charged a fee of $24.99 to complete the registration process."

Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#24

Post by byrneseyeview »

Interesting. Actually, this is a good way to separate two of the crucial functions of health care: actually fixing medical problems, or demonstrating serious concern and sympathy for someone's medical problems.

A person interested in the first can use inquicker; someone more interested in the latter can still bustle off to the ER and pace around, or something.

Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#26

Post by tkiley »

matt1 wrote: post #20

What an ambitious, innovative idea--nice work. I don't understand (even after looking at the How it Works page) is how it works. Since you can't predict what types of injuries that are going to come in that are more critical than yours, how can you gaurantee an appointment time?

The short answer: we can't. Sometimes, we miss the guaranteed appointment time. However, we do everything we can to ensure that our predictions are accurate, and we do everything we can to ensure that the patient experience is still as smooth as possible if we're wrong.

At this point, we have a 99.9% success rate with that guarantee: less than 1 out of every 1,000 patients has requested a write-off of the bill.

Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#27

Post by Adrenalist »

Adrenalist wrote: post #13
absconditus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The drugstore clinics can certainly handle ear infections. There are also urgent care facilities in most areas that can be utilized.

I'm not sure what your qualifications are, but I've given mine -- a parent of 3 kids. Drugstores (in my area, anyways) are NOT able to handle ear infections because antibiotics require a physicians prescription. Urgent care facilities are always preferable to ER visits because they cost less for the patient and permit ER staff to handle true emergencies, there there are many instances where urgent care just isn't an…

I was merely trying to make the point that I see this as a useful service/start up. Perhaps 'qualifications' was a poor choice of word here.

Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#28

Post by tkiley »

matt1 wrote: post #23
cadalac wrote: post #15

Wow I think you have a great idea. We really need something like this in Canada. What are your rates? I couldn't find them on the site. Oh, and one last question: where you funded by YC?

To answer one of your questions... From the registration page: "Your credit card will be charged a fee of $24.99 to complete the registration process."

Exactly. Originally, we experimented with offering this service to patients for free or for $2.99, but the hospitals were experiencing significant numbers of no-shows and bogus registrations; the $24.99 price point was actually requested by our pilot hospital as a form of data validation.

If we could find another way to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high, I would love to offer this service at a lower price point.

Re: InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

#29

Post by silencio »

absconditus wrote: post #14
Adrenalist wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what your qualifications are, but I've given mine -- a parent of 3 kids. Drugstores (in my area, anyways) are NOT able to handle ear infections because antibiotics require a physicians prescription. Urgent care facilities are always preferable to ER visits because they cost less for the patient and permit ER staff to handle true emergencies, there there are many instances where urgent care just isn't an…

Many drugstores have clinics staffed by clinicians who are able to write prescriptions. One does not need qualifications to obtain this information.

While you have a valid point, I think you're still missing the main issue: sometimes these clinics aren't open when you need them most. Emergencies big and small happen at any time during the day. Not many clinics and urgent care centers are open and easy to go to 24/7.
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