Critical Access hospitals in California
Critical Access hospitals › California
California has 38 Critical Access hospitals. 36 of them have an emergency department. Across those that report it, the median emergency department visit lasts 2 hr 3 min.
A Critical Access Hospital is a Medicare designation for a small rural hospital. To qualify, a hospital keeps no more than 25 inpatient beds, sits a set distance from the next nearest hospital, keeps an average inpatient stay of 96 hours or less, and provides emergency care 24 hours a day. The designation exists to keep emergency care within reach in places too small to support a full general hospital, and it changes how Medicare pays them.
Designation from the CMS Hospital General Information dataset. Data published July 2026. See all hospitals in California, or Critical Access hospitals in other states. How this data works.