Find the Nearest and Safest Emergency Room With ER Inspector
Emergency rooms are not always designed to provide emergency care; sometimes you have enough time to decide where to go. (For example, if your child is someone in need of care, you should know where to find the nearest pediatric ambulance .)
For everything else, it’s worth taking a look at ER Inspector ProPublica . We wrote about this tool many years ago when it was an Ambulance Waiting Monitor, able to give you approximate waiting times, including travel times, so you didn’t have to sit around forever if there is a faster ambulance next to you. …
The tool has now been updated to include data on security breaches found during complaint investigations from January 2015 to the present. ProPublica explains:
While [The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid] publishes data on all types of hospital violations or “deficiencies,” we have removed those related to emergency care. These include violations related to inappropriate patient assessment and treatment, inadequate medical and nursing staff, and non-compliance with ER policies and procedures. It also includes violations of the Emergency Medicine and Active Childbirth Act (EMTALA), which requires emergency doctors to conduct medical examinations and provide treatment to stabilize anyone who goes to the emergency department, regardless of their ability to pay.
This data does not guarantee that you will find the best and fastest ambulance: the hospital may have a busier day than usual, or there may be violations that were not identified during the investigation. But if you want to stay informed, this tool can give you a little more context than a quick Google nightly search for “hospitals near me” when you’re already hurt or sick.