Stand-alone emergency departments are definitely a good thing. At least, the kind we have in Redmond is. The "main" hospital is about 5 miles away from the sta

Stand-alone emergency departments are definitely a good thing. At least, the kind we have in Redmond is. The "main" hospital is about 5 miles away from the stand-alone ER, both run by the same company. They have the full compliment of equipment and physicians you'd expect, and can handle most serious scenarios there. And most importantly, there is never a significant wait, while the hospital is usually very busy. If you need to be admitted, they ambulance you to the main campus at no charge. There really is no downside. You get the part of the hospital that matters, in more places. The only problem seems to be that people don't realize that they're available, so the ER at the primary campus is still overcrowded.