The Akron-area health system on Wednesday launched a partnership with a national health-care software company to provide medical knowledge and current ER wait times to consumers via smartphones.
The iTriage program enables users to look up symptoms and locate nearby doctors, urgent care centers and hospitals on a Web site or through a free application for their iPhones, BlackBerry and other mobile devices.
The location of all hospitals in each region of the country is listed on the application, as well as on iTriage's Web site, http://www.itriagehealth.com.
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But only hospital systems that contract with iTriage's developer, Colorado-based Healthagen LLC, have more detailed information displayed.
Summa, for instance, has ER wait times automatically updated every 10 minutes for its Akron City, St. Thomas and Western Reserve hospitals, as well as for affiliate Robinson Memorial Hospital.
Wait times for Summa's Barberton and Wadsworth-Rittman hospitals will be added in the future.
Users also can see information about programs offered at Summa hospitals, physician practices and other locations.
"The focus is really to provide much more information at your fingertips about the hospitals and the doctors and the care we can provide," said Brant Russell, Summa's system director of emergency and trauma services. "As we move to the era of smart technology where you look at everybody using their phones and Web-based applications that are truly at their hip, it seemed to make sense that we were able to provide this information."
Summa has a one-year contract with Healthagen for the Akron area, health system spokeswoman Julie Uehara said.
The deal is exclusive for Summit and Portage counties and the city of Medina. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
More than 300 hospitals nationwide have contracted with iTriage since the application launched last year, said Dr. Peter Hudson, chief executive and co-founder of Healthagen.
The iTriage site had more than 4 million page views on mobile devices in the month of June alone, he said.
Hudson and another emergency medicine doctor started the company to help people who struggle to get good health information and make decisions.
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As an ER doctor, he said, it wasn't uncommon for him to get calls at home from neighbors and friends seeking advice about where to get help for their symptoms.
Along with providing information about nearby health-care providers, the application also allows users to enter their symptoms and discover possible causes.
"We thought there could be a solution in a mobile space," he said.
Hospitals here and across the country increasingly are taking advantage of technology to stay in touch with patients and market their services.
Earlier this year, Akron General Health System began advertising up-to-the-minute wait times for its emergency departments on its Web site and billboards throughout town.
The Cleveland Clinic also offers consumer applications for iPhone and iPod Touch users.
Last month, for example, the Clinic launched "Stress Mediations," which provides users eight relaxation techniques that can be used on their smartphones anytime and anywhere. The program is available on iTunes for $1.99.
Also, the Cleveland Clinic offers a free "Wellness Tip of the Day" app for iPhone users.
The iTriage application offered by Summa is free to download and use.
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