Manual Hospital Data Verification Before Publishing
Our team performs manual research and link testing before hospital data is published. This page explains exactly what we check, how we handle conflicting sources, and how updates are reviewed.
Manual Checks We Perform
| What we verify | Primary source | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital name and campus | Official hospital page, health-system directory, CMS datasets | Prevents incorrect campus or former-name confusion |
| Address and directions | Official hospital contact/location page plus map context | Helps users reach the correct campus entrance |
| Phone routes | Official hospital contact page or department page | Avoids outdated third-party phone numbers |
| Appointments | Official scheduling page or phone route | Keeps users on the hospital’s own process |
| Patient portal | Official health-system portal page | Avoids unsafe login-search confusion |
| Billing and financial assistance | Official hospital billing and financial assistance pages | Helps users find the correct department and forms |
| Medical records | Official HIM/records request page | Helps users find the correct release-of-information route |
| Emergency department | Official hospital page and CMS EMTALA context | Keeps emergency guidance factual and non-triage |
Source Priority System
- Official hospital or health-system page is the primary source for public-facing contact and visit information.
- Government datasets such as Medicare/CMS pages are used to cross-check hospital identity and federal reporting context.
- Accreditation or quality directories may support identity context but do not replace the hospital’s own contact page.
- Third-party directories are avoided unless they only help locate an official source, and they are not used as final proof for phone, appointment, or billing routes.
- When two official sources conflict, we prefer the hospital’s current contact page for patient-facing instructions and note the conflict for editor review.
What ‘Tested’ Means
- The main hospital link opens and reaches the correct hospital or health-system page
- Important action links are tested: appointment, portal, billing, records, financial assistance and directions
- Phone numbers are checked against official text where available
- Pages are checked for redirects, renamed systems and campus mergers
- Editors avoid copying outdated snippets from search results without opening the actual official page
Update Frequency
High-use hospital pages and pages with user-submitted corrections are reviewed more often. Pages with stable hospital identity but fewer changes are checked on a regular editorial cycle. We also update when hospitals merge, rename, redirect patient portals, open/close campuses, change billing vendors, move emergency entrances, or publish new contact pages.
If you work for a hospital, are a patient, or noticed an outdated official link, send the exact page URL and current official source. We verify before updating.
Need to report an update?
Send the hospital page URL, the correction, and the official source we should verify against. Our editors review corrections before changing published data.
Contact the editorial teamRead our correction process