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30 minutes or less
Sentara, Bon Secours introduce guarantee

ERICK SORICELLI
Monday March 12, 2007

You’ve heard it before. A delivery guaranteed in 30 minutes or less, or within an hour, maybe for pizza delivery or new glasses.

How about treatment at an emergency room?

As unusual as it might sound, two Hampton Roads emergency rooms, one at Suffolk’s Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, the other, Newport News’ free-standing Sentara Port Warwick, have introduced 30-minute guarantees for certain types of ER treatments.

If patients aren’t seen within 30 minutes, both facilities offer gift certificates for nearby merchants. At Harbour View, patients are given a choice between a gift certificate or a movie pass.

Port Warwick started its guarantee in late January. Harbour View’s has been in place since the ER opened March 1. Officials at Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System and Sentara Healthcare started the program after conducting focus groups and community research.

In principle, the guarantees have the same intent at both facilities. Bon Secours and Sentara officials say they’re trying to reduce the wait times for patients in their ERs.

At Port Warwick, at least 85 percent of patients have been seen under the guarantee, according to Megan Perry, administrator for Port Warwick and its supervising hospital, Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton.

But each facility has different conditions for the guarantees.

At Harbour View, operated under Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth, radiology, laboratory, diagnostic and therapeutic services are covered under the guarantee.

In focus groups, “people had a fear and anxiety of going to emergency departments,” said Barbara Lynch, vice president of ambulatory services for Maryview and Harbour View. “By giving them that 30-minute guarantee, it helps to alleviate some of the fear.”

The goal for the Harbour View guarantee is a 95 percent turnaround rate, Lynch said.

At Port Warwick, the guarantee is for a patient to be seen by a doctor. But, the standard rule of ERs applies: Patients with life-threatening conditions still get priority.

“It’s not a simple assembly line,” said Dr. Gilbert Schmidt, medical director for CarePlex and Port Warwick’s emergency departments. “When you see a doctor, there is a decision-making process.”

Although the idea may sound unconventional, 30-minute ER guarantees are in place in other areas. Bon Secours Richmond has had one implemented for its three hospitals since 2002.

Oakwood Healthcare System, of Dearborn, Mich., was the first in the country to introduce a 30-minute ER guarantee, in 2000.

Along with Harbour View, the emergency room at Newport News’ Mary Immaculate Hospital, a Bon Secours acute-care facility, will also start a similar 30-minute guarantee on April 1, said Bon Secours spokeswoman Lynne Zultanky.

Similar guarantees aren’t currently in place at Chesapeake General Hospital or Riverside Health System. Chesapeake General has a “Quick Care” program for ER visitors to treat minor injuries. At Riverside, two different ER teams are generally used to treat major and minor injuries, according to spokesman Bud Ramey.

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Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is a leading health care organization known for providing care for the whole person with grace and clinical distinction. Bon Secours brings together a network of hospitals, primary care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities to provide quality health care services to the residents of Hampton Roads. Bon Secours, which employs more than 4,500, includes: Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, Bon Secours Maryview Nursing Care Center and St. Francis Nursing Center.

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