Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like a hospital has had an incentive to do that in the past. They make less money by charging urgent care rates instead of emerge

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like a hospital has had an incentive to do that in the past. They make less money by charging urgent care rates instead of emergency rates. They also have shifted liability onto themselves. When they get it wrong and tell someone to go to urgent care instead of the ER and the patient gets sicker or dies they now face increased risk of a lawsuit. The health insurer in this case is actually changing the incentives for the better. Now the hospital risks not getting paid because they didn't triage up front. Unfortunately the patient is caught in the middle here and doesn't have any good option until a less expensive triage option is developed. Hopefully hospitals will respond to insurers denying ER visits to improve their triage as you've suggested.