Introducing Oklahoma ER and Hospital

Introducing Oklahoma ER and Hospital

Hello. Dr. Keith Smith with you. Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Thank you for joining me.

I have Dr. Rice and Dr. Barton with me. They have a very exciting development here in Oklahoma City. They have started Oklahoma ER and Hospital. A free-standing, emergency room hospital, which is really a new concept to Oklahoma. It’s such an exciting development, and their embrace of transparent pricing is truly remarkable…very disruptive. I wanted to have them here at the Surgery Center, let them introduce themselves, tell you a little bit about what they are doing, how to contact them, where they are, and my understanding is their opening this week. So, I’ll let Dr. Rice start and then we’ll hear from Dr. Barton. Thanks for being here, guys!

[Dr. Rice] Yeah, thanks for having us. So, my name’s Dr. Rice. I’m an ER physician. We are starting a hospital that has been in development for about two or three years, at 150th and Penn in Oklahoma City. It’s a physician-owned, emergency hospital that has nine ER beds and a full in-patient service. Has MRI, CT, ultrasound, X-ray. And as Dr. Smith said, we’re excited. We’re trying to bring price transparency and a high-level of patient service to the area. We’re excited about the community and we’re excited about being able to do some contracting and price that will hopefully save, you know, the patients of Oklahoma quite a bit of money and allow them to have more money in their pocketbooks at the end of the month. So, I’ll pass it on to Dr. Barton.

[Dr. Barton] Yeah, we’re excited to be here, and we are a group of doctors. We’re all ER doctors, and so our center focuses around the ER experience, and we make that better than anybody else. You come into our facility…the wait time and the waiting room…our waiting room is just for show. You wait there for less than five minutes. You go right back to the back and see a doctor. Usually, you’re still filling out your chart and the doctors interrupting you saying “oh, how can I help you today”? And, you know, we have everything. We have the labs, we have, you know, ultrasound, MRI, CAT scan, X-ray. You get seen by a doctor, you don’t get seen by a nurse practitioner. And our two biggest attributes are that we’re super friendly and were super-duper fast. We get you in, feelin’ better, treated, get you out…if you don’t have insurance, or you want to pay cash, we have transparent pricing, you know, and its very reasonable rates, and if you’re sick enough to need admission to the hospital, we can do that too. We can admit you right to our hospital and take care of you until you’re better. And you’re going to feel like you’re at the spa, and not the emergency room. If you’re at the ER, it might be the worst day of your life, but we’re going to make that a way better experience than usual at the ER. You’re going to like it.

[Dr. Smith] Very good. So once again, better and cheaper. That’s what the free market delivers. I anticipate that this enterprise will expand, and people in Oklahoma, not just Oklahoma City, will have options to very affordable care, even in the emergency situation. Thank you, guys, both for being here. We probably will talk again. This is such an exciting and disruptive development. I wanted everyone to meet these two gentlemen, and again, they’re at 150th and Pennsylvania, that’s 150th, on the north side, and Pennsylvania. Do you guys have a website?

[Dr. Rice] Sure.

[Dr. Smith] What is that?

[Dr. Rice] It’s OKERHospital.com, and if you need to get in contact with me, my email is CRice@OKERHospital.com.

[Dr. Smith] And will you have prices or some description of the prices on the website?

[Dr. Barton] They’re already up there now.

[Dr. Rice] Yeah, we already have… we have all our outpatient services already listed on the website, and what we have is a cash-tiered system that we’re also listing on the website, that kind of talks about the different prices to be expected. So it’s all up-front, transparent, and in addition to that, we’re also doing quite a bit of contracting directly with employers, if we can. So yeah, we’re excited. And thank you again for this opportunity and this area. I don’t think we would have been so willing to jump in, without what has already been started here with you and your facility. Appreciate it.

[Dr. Smith] Those of you who are following this movement know exactly how radical what you just heard is, so, you know, I’m so excited to have them come to town. I’ll probably visit with them again. Until then, we’ll see you next time.