Each card shows its data, one short cue and its source. The longer notes are here, under the card's name, and the (i) on a card opens them.
Receiving hospitals
DistanceHow far each hospital is, in a straight line.
Straight-line distance, not drive or flight time. These are places a patient could be sent, listed by distance only; the list says nothing about beds, services or whether a hospital will accept a transfer. Critical access hospitals on the CMS list are left out where they could be matched by name or street address; 176 of 1,382 could not be matched, so some still appear.
Map and filtersMap shows the places; a filter lists a service's hospitals first.
The eight filters are Nearest, Stroke, Heart, Trauma, Burns, Peds, OB and Psych, one at a time. Nearest, the default, lists the five nearest. A service filter lists first, nearest first, up to five hospitals within 150 miles that a state health department list names for that service (for Peds, also a CMS children's hospital), then the rest of the five nearest, in grey and thinner, each marked Not listed in our data (its state's list was read and does not name it) or Unknown (no list was read for its state). None is hidden. A listing is a state designation, never capacity or acceptance. No burn or psychiatric service list is read yet, so those two list none and say so. The line under the list names the lists and when they were read.
PhoneThe number CMS has on file for each hospital.
Phone numbers are each hospital's number on file with Medicare (CMS Hospital General Information). Ask for the emergency department or transfer center. Confirm a number before relying on it; a hospital with no number shown could not be matched to one valid CMS number.
QRScan to call the hospital you picked.
The code holds the same CMS phone number as the call link, and appears only for a hospital that has one, under the hospital's details on a desktop.
Road ConditionClear, Caution or Poor from 511 events within 25 miles.
Road Condition is the state's 511 events as Road511 relays them, within 25 miles straight-line of the hospital: Clear when no active event is listed; Poor when a closure of a named road, or a weather, road condition, hazard or incident event, is new (begun within 3 days, or listed with no start); Caution for any other listed event, such as road work, a restriction, an older closure or a closure that names no road; and Unknown, with its cause, when the road service could not be read. The state's own severity rating decides nothing here. A Road511 plan can delay events, so a listing may be behind the road. The road service and the state decide what is listed; this page reports it. Press the word for the nearest event and the source.
The two lines under the list say how many of the listed hospitals are Poor or Caution and name any state that could not be read; the Road conditions card's Details opens them.
Sky ConditionFlight weather at the airport nearest each hospital.
Sky Condition is the latest report from the airport weather station nearest that hospital within 30 miles, compared with the FAA's default minimums for helicopter air ambulances (14 CFR 135.609), not the weather at the hospital now. Press the word for the station, its distance and the report's age, and for the full report. A report over 75 minutes old shows its age instead. Situational awareness only, never a decision to launch or cancel a flight: the air team decides.
Children's markMarks hospitals CMS lists as children's, with emergency services.
Children's marks a hospital CMS lists as a children's hospital with emergency services, where it could be matched by name or street address; 17 of 55 could not be. A general hospital's pediatric unit or pediatric emergency department is not marked.
Trauma levelA state's designation where its list was read; verification, look it up.
The Trauma filter shows a state health department's trauma designation where its list was read; the line under the list names those states. Verification is not known here. Look up trauma verification with the American College of Surgeons.
CMS does not endorse this site.
Source: USGS National Structures Dataset (public domain)
Phone numbers: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospital General Information
Road conditions: Road511 (road511.com), from each state's 511 service
Radar
Radar imageThe latest image from the nearest weather radar.
Radar image from the National Weather Service (radar.weather.gov), centred on the radar, not on the hospital; check the time printed on the image, since it can be old. Situational awareness only, never a decision to launch or cancel a flight.
StationWhich radar it is, and how far away.
Nearest NEXRAD (WSR-88D) radar by straight-line distance. Far from a radar, the beam passes above low cloud and precipitation, so the image can miss them; beyond 124 miles no image is shown.
Source: National Weather Service, NEXRAD radar sites (api.weather.gov) and images (radar.weather.gov)
Flight conditions
Day or nightDay or night where the ZIP code point is.
Daylight. Computed in your browser from the sun's position at the point the Census places inside the ZIP code area, which can be miles from the hospital; near a time-zone line the hospital's own zone can differ. Accurate to within a few minutes. 14 CFR 1.1 defines night as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the Air Almanac, converted to local time; this page computes those times and does not read the Air Almanac. Whether it is night decides only whether the table's day column or its night columns apply; terrain, the operator's local flying area and night vision or terrain warning equipment still decide which cell applies, so the page still never picks one.
StationThe airport weather station the report comes from.
The distance to the station is straight-line. A station more than 15 nautical miles (17.3 mi) away is flagged: the FAA accepts that distance for an airport's weather report (14 CFR 135.611(a)(1)).
Ceiling and visibilityLowest cloud layer, and how far you can see.
The ceiling is the height of the lowest broken or overcast cloud layer; "none" means the station reported no ceiling. Visibility is how far the station can see, in statute miles.
Signal chipReport against FAA minimums. The air team decides.
The latest aviation weather report (METAR) from the nearest airport weather station within 30 miles, compared with every cell of the FAA's default Class G VFR helicopter air ambulance minimums. They apply in uncontrolled (Class G) airspace; controlled airspace has its own rules, and the operator knows which apply to a flight. Which cell applies depends on day or night (shown above), whether the terrain is mountainous, whether the flight is inside the operator's local flying area, and night vision or terrain warning equipment. This page cannot know the last three, so it never picks a cell. A station reports conditions at its airport, not at the hospital or along the route. For a receiving hospital, press "Weather here" in the transfer card (Transfer: nearest hospitals).
Flight category is the FAA's ceiling/visibility category, not a transfer or coverage status.
The FAA's default Class G minimums (14 CFR 135.609)
DetailsThe full report and the minimums behind the signal.
Press Details on the card for the full report (METAR), the forecast (TAF) when one is issued, and the minimums that apply.
Flight category is estimated from the station's reported ceiling and visibility. It is situational awareness only, not an aviation weather briefing and never a decision to launch or cancel a flight.
Source: METAR and TAF from the National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center (aviationweather.gov), requested by this site; minimums from 14 CFR 135.609 (eCFR)
Nearest heliports and airports
Landing sitesHeliports and airports near the ZIP code, by distance.
Straight-line distance. Up to five of each within 60 miles.
UnconfirmedOn file with the FAA; not known to be open.
A record means a landing site is on file with the FAA, not that it is lit, open, or usable tonight. Most private heliport records are reported by the owner, and some have not been updated in years.
Private sitesShown only when the name marks a hospital pad.
Private landing sites are shown only when their FAA name marks a hospital, medical, EMS or public-safety pad.
Airport weatherAirport identifiers link to current weather reports.
Airport identifiers with a weather station link to the National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center (aviationweather.gov) for current METAR and, where one is issued, TAF. Situational awareness only, never a decision to launch or cancel a flight.
Last info responseWhen a private site's owner last told the FAA.
The year the owner of a private landing site last answered the FAA about it. Nothing arranges a flight from this list; the air medical operator's dispatch does.
Source: FAA NASR
Weather station identifiers: National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center
Forecast
Forecast periodsThe next periods of the National Weather Service forecast.
Each period shows the temperature, a short forecast and the wind, from the National Weather Service forecast for the point the Census places inside the ZIP code area.
Air qualityThe air quality number and word for the nearest area.
The colored circle is the EPA Air Quality Index category, not a transfer or coverage status.
Air quality from U.S. EPA AirNow (airnow.gov) for the nearest reporting area, not the hospital itself. EPA does not endorse this site.
Source: National Weather Service forecast (api.weather.gov)
Source: state, local and tribal air quality agencies via U.S. EPA AirNow (airnow.gov)
State health alerts
StateThe state the Weather Service names for the ZIP code's point.
The state is the one the National Weather Service gives for the point the Census places inside the ZIP code area. Near a border that can differ from the hospital's own state, so check the heading. The row of other states lists the states of the hospitals on the board; each shows its own page and its own label.
Who may joinThe state's own words about its alert list.
The label is one of five texts, taken from what the state's page says: Open to anyone, Register online, Ask to join, Through your local health department, or No public sign-up found. It is read from the state's page by hand and can be wrong or out of date. The site links to the state's own sign-up page and never asks for or keeps an email address. A state whose page could not be fully read says so on the card.
Alert typesThe CDC's three message types, in a suggested order.
States send the CDC's three message types: Health Alert, Health Advisory and Health Update, and some send other notices. The role you pick only changes the order of this list and never hides anything. The order is the site's suggestion, not a state's.
Read dateThe day the pages were read, not an alert's date.
The date after Read is the day the state pages were read for this list. It says nothing about the alerts on them. The state's email list may be ahead of the page.
Source: state health department pages (tier 3) and the CDC list of Health Alert Network jurisdictions (cdc.gov)