Aargau funds digital waiting lists for emergency practices
Around 400,000 francs are to enable the expansion of the Muri model. The three-year pilot project starts in early 2027; a cantonal emergency finder is to follow later.
The Aargau cantonal government is supporting the expansion of digital waiting lists in outpatient emergency care with a total of around 400,000 francs. A three-year pilot project is to begin in early 2027. The basis is the system used by the emergency practice at Muri Hospital: anyone who takes a ticket learns when treatment is likely to be possible and does not have to spend the entire waiting time at the hospital.
The sponsoring organisations include, alongside Muri, the cantonal hospitals of Aarau and Baden as well as the Fricktal health centre. According to the canton's statement of 6 November, the ticketing system is to be introduced step by step at the project sponsors, presumably by mid-2027. Only after that is the development and testing of a cantonal “emergency finder” planned.
The ticket begins with questions about the symptoms
In Muri, the service is already part of everyday routine. According to its own description, the emergency practice treats acute but less severe health problems, for example when the family doctor's practice cannot be reached. Patients can put themselves on the waiting list via the website. To do so, they answer questions about their state of health.
The hospital describes the system developed by Quickticket and adapted jointly in a field report from October 2025. The digital pre-assessment is also intended to recognise when someone needs medical help immediately and then refer them to the emergency number. The displayed waiting time serves to plan a visit to the practice. It is not a final medical diagnosis.
The senior physician at the emergency practice, Philipp Rischer, explains the limit there using abdominal pain as an example: whether a harmless digestive disorder or appendicitis lies behind it cannot be conclusively decided online. Triage at the hospital, meaning the assessment of medical urgency, therefore remains central.
Access remains open even without a smartphone
Anyone without a computer or a smartphone can still obtain a ticket on site at the emergency triage. The hospital states this explicitly in its current patient information. A digital device is therefore not a prerequisite for access to the emergency practice in Muri. A ticket obtained on a computer can be transferred to a smartphone via its QR code and brought along.
The practice is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and at weekends and on public holidays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is located on the second floor of House 2, accessible via the main entrance. These times apply to the emergency practice, not to all of the hospital's emergency services.
For life-threatening situations, the hospital refers directly to the ambulance emergency number 144. In such a case, those affected should not wait for a free slot in a digital waiting list. Even a fully booked ticket offering is not a medical assessment of how urgent the symptoms are.
The canton reports greater predictability
According to the government, almost half of all tickets in Muri are already obtained digitally. Waiting times are easier to plan and can partly be spent outside the hospital. This relieves pressure on the waiting areas and makes organisation easier for staff. The digital self-assessment has largely proved correct.
The canton does not publish an exact error rate or a quantified reduction in overall waiting time in this statement. Moreover, the positive experiences come from operations in Muri. Whether processes will improve to the same extent at the other locations will only be tested with the expansion.
The waiting list does not solve the staffing question
The health association vaka places digital control within a larger emergency model. In its account, family doctors for evening and weekend duty are increasingly lacking. Upstream emergency practices are to take on additional tasks. The association also sees financing problems: the applicable outpatient tariffs do not cover the costs. This is the assessment of the service providers, not a profit-and-loss account for the new pilot project.
The planned emergency finder adds another task: it is to show the capacity utilisation of various emergency practices in real time and improve the distribution to suitable treatment locations. For this, several locations will have to work together in future. The Muri service available today and the cantonal overview that is only planned are therefore two different stages of expansion. The next step is initially the introduction of the waiting lists, presumably by mid-2027.
Sources
- Aargau cantonal government: pilot project for emergency practices, 6 November 2026
- Muri Hospital: current information on the emergency practice
- Muri Hospital: digital ticket, real relief, 27 October 2025
- vaka: a new model for medical emergency care
- Medinside: digital tickets to relieve Aargau emergency departments
- Title image: Daniel Sone, Stethoscope and Laptop Computer, Public Domain
- Article image: Mictlancihuatl, Hand holding Smartphone
- Article image licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
