California ED data

This week's San Diego Union Tribune features a story of one doctor's attempt to encourage hospitals to come clean with ED wait-time figures as a step toward improving traffic flow. Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency physician at Scripps Mercy in Hillcrest, leads the Emergency Medicine Oversight Commission of the San Diego County Medical Society. She recently persuaded 19 hospitals to share emergency room procedures and statistics.

Also in California, the site of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development posts numbers from hospitals on the annual number of patients who enter the ED without being seen. It also asks facilities to disclose the number of hours per month they were on diversion. All you have to do is type in the city or name of the hospital you're researching.