[villagetinker]

I believe there is a problem with the Medicare method of rating hospitals. As I understand it there is an assumption that all hospitals have a similar patient base. Unfortunately for hospitals in this area there is a greater portion of older patients, which leads to a higher-than-average death rate at the hospitals and therefore a lower rating. I do not know of any other rating system, bear this in mind when you start getting replies. The other problem is many of the hospital ERs are being used for NON emergency purposes, which causes major backups, especially during snowbird season. There are now several local stand alone ERs as well as a few Urgent care facilities.
NOTE: it appears if you call an ambulance, you will NOT have a choice of which facility you want to go to, we had this happen personally.