Visiting the Emergency Department

Arrival

The Triage Process

When patients arrive at the Emergency Department (ED), they are met by a medical provider who determines the nature and extent of the injury or illness. Each patient is then assigned a primary nurse and emergency doctor.

Although all patients are seen and evaluated by the medical provider upon arrival, medical treatment is given to those patients most in need of immediate care. This means that patients are not always seen in the order they arrive.

Patient Privacy

Crozer Healthis committed to ensuring the privacy of its patients' health information by following the guidelines outlined in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). As part of this commitment, at registration, each patient will be provided with a copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices, which outlines each patient's privacy rights as well as how the hospital may use and share the patient's health information.

Visitor Policy

For safety reasons, the ED staff must limit the number of family members or friends who accompany an adult patient. Patients who are in treatment rooms are permitted to have two visitors at a time, while patients who are in non-treatment areas are permitted to have one visitor. Pediatric patients must have a parent or guardian stay with them at all times. A guardian or companion may be required to stay with an adult patient who has altered cognitive function and, therefore, would be better served by having a guardian present. This is determined by the ED staff.

Advance Directives

Federal law requires hospitals to ask patients if they have an "Advance Directive." An Advance Directive is a written statement describing the treatments that a patient does or does not wish to receive in the event that he or she is unable to communicate. Patients or families should inform the triage nurse if the patient has an advance directive.

Going Home

Before leaving the ED, the patient is given discharge instructions that will be reviewed with the patient by a nurse or doctor. Learn more about the discharge process.

Admission to the Hospital

If admission to the hospital is necessary, the patient's family doctor is called. The patient continues to receive care in the ED while the inpatient room is prepared.

Registration

Following the triage process, patients are registered. The Registrar will ask each patient a series of questions as well as ask them to sign documents indicating that consent will be given for treatment and billing purposes. If it is necessary for the patient to later be admitted to the hospital, admitting physicians and primary care physicians need this information to continue care. The information provided by the patient also provides the care team with access to information about previous medical treatment the patient may have received at a Crozer Healthhospital.

Documentation of insurance is obtained at this time, so patients are advised to be ready to show patient identification and any medical information cards at registration.

Triage or Registration Questions

Some questions that patients might be asked during triage or registration include:

• What brought the patient to the ED today?
• What is the patient's address?
• What is the patient's Social Security Number?
• When did the patient last eat or drink?
• What is the name of the patient's regular doctor?
• What medication does the patient take on a daily basis?
• What is the name of the medicine and how much is taken per day?
• Does the patient have any allergies? What kind?
• What is the name of the patient's insurance carrier?
• Does the patient have an "Advance Directive"?

Insurance Coverage

Some insurance plans require patients to pay a specified co-payment amount to the hospital prior to discharge. Many insurance cards have this information on the front side of the card. To better serve our patients and help them avoid billed charges at a later date, we ask that this co-payment amount is paid prior to discharge from the ER. For your convenience, we accept cash, personal checks, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express for this payment.

Patients who do not have medical insurance or have insurance coverage with a high financial responsibility may qualify for financial assistance under Crozer Health’s Uninsured/Underinsured policy.

For any financial related questions or information concerning your ED visit, please contact our patient financial resources department.

Billing Procedures

You will receive two bills: one from the Crozer Healthhospital for "facility" charges and one from the ED physician. You may also receive separate bills from other providers who provide consultation on the patient's case.

If a patient has questions about ED physician billing, call 1-800-666-2455.

Waiting Area

Although all patients are seen and evaluated by the triage nurse upon arrival, medical treatment is given to those patients most in need of immediate care. For this reason, we cannot always attend to patients in the order in which they arrive.

Patients may be asked to take a seat in the waiting room if an exam room is not available. As soon as possible, each patient will be taken into an exam room.

We regret that our patients have to wait, but we do our very best to keep patients and their family members informed. However, patients should realize that our time spent providing clinical care and interpreting diagnostic information may prevent information from being immediately available.

Discharge

Patients who are released from the ED will be prescribed necessary medication and given discharge instructions before leaving. These directions will have information about how to care for the patient’s illness or injury, as well as information about follow-up care and whom to call if the problem persists or worsens.

Patient Navigator Service

Crozer Healthnow offers a Patient Navigator service for all ED patients at Delaware County Memorial Hospital (DCMH). The patient navigator is available to assist ED patients with any follow-up care and services they may need. This service will be available to ED patients at Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Springfield and Taylor Hospitals in the future.

How do I pick up my X-rays?

Films are available through Crozer Health’s Radiology Departments. Please call the following numbers to make pickup arrangements.

• Crozer: 610-447-2590
• DCMH: 610-284-8326
• Springfield: 610-328-8785
• Taylor: 610-595-6469

We Value Patient Feedback

To help ensure patient satisfaction, we send surveys to some of our patients to ask about their ED experience. We ask patients to return these surveys as soon as possible.