Emergency Care in Washington

What is emergency care?

Emergency care* is for medical or mental health conditions that require immediate medical attention to prevent serious jeopardy to your health. Examples include:

• Chest pain or pressure
• Severe stomach pain that comes on suddenly
• Decrease in or loss of consciousness
• Severe shortness of breath
  

Do not attempt to access emergency care through this website.

If you think you or your family member has a medical or mental health emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.

Emergency physician network status

This document (PDF) lists in-network hospitals and the network status of the associated emergency physician groups, by network. If you are seen for an emergency, services provided by emergency physicians will be covered at your in-network benefit, regardless of whether the physician is included in your health plan’s network.

*An emergency medical condition is a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you reasonably believed that the absence of immediate medical attention would result in any of the following: (1) placing the person’s health (or, with respect to a pregnant woman, the health of the woman or her unborn child) in serious jeopardy; (2) serious impairment to bodily functions; or (3) serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.

A mental health condition is an emergency medical condition when it meets the requirements of the paragraph above or, for members who are not enrolled in Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage, when the condition manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity such that either of the following is true: The person is an immediate danger to himself or herself or to others, or the person is immediately unable to provide for or use food, shelter, or clothing due to the mental disorder.