Tufts Medical Center Is Now Partnering with an App that Predicts ER Wait Times

The only thing more painful than long emergency room waits is, well, the injury that brought you to the emergency room in the first place. That’s why Tufts Medical Center is now using an app called InQuicker to make the waiting process as streamlined as possible.

Now, Tufts Medical Center patients can use InQuicker to predict emergency room wait times and check in remotely for an expected treatment time. The app does not cut down on overall waiting time—the hospital will continue to use the same triage system it always has—but simply allows patients to wait comfortably at home longer, with real-time progress updates arriving by phone call and text. InQuicker’s website claims that 80 percent of patients see a doctor within 15 minutes of their estimated treatment time.

People with life-threatening injuries should, of course, proceed immediately to the emergency room as always. The app also asks patients to enter their symptoms, and is programmed to detect certain severe conditions and notify those individuals that they should call 911 or go directly to the hospital.

Similar services, like ProPublica’s Wait Watcher app, are also operational in Boston, and many area hospitals post wait times online, but InQuicker is one of the more responsive, hands-on programs available. Right now, Tufts Medical Center’s adult and pediatric emergency rooms are the only urgent care facilities in Boston that work with InQuicker, though a handful of other New England hospitals are on the app as well.