Surprise: These Emergency Rooms Are the Fastest in Montana

When was the last time you visited an emergency room in Montana?

Hopefully, not very often. ERs are meant for critical medical issues where you need urgent care now. A broken limb, a gushing wound, a car accident, a heart attack, or a stroke, are all great reasons to head to the ER.

Many Montanans seem to use the emergency room for non-urgent health matters, for various reasons. Lack of insurance, they can't see their primary care physician or a specialist quickly, or maybe they feel like it's their only/best option.

Typically, getting checked out at the emergency room isn't quick.

The last time you visited an ER, you may have spent a long time in the waiting room. Depending on the severity of your issue (and how crowded the emergency room is that day), the wait can seem to take forever. 

And once you finally make it past the muted TV on the wall, the stack of outdated magazines, and the sniffling, coughing people in the waiting room, it might take hours before you get discharged.

Montana has two of the speediest ERs in the US.

Two Montana hospitals have some of the shortest ER visit times in the United States. Neither of them is located in any of the Treasure State's larger towns or cities. These small-town emergency rooms are located far from the nearest Starbucks or Costco.

The law firm Bader Scott analyzed the median in-and-out times at over 4,000 hospitals in the US. According to their report, the McCone County Health Center in Circle, MT, and the Big Sandy Medical Center land in the Top 10 for shortest ER visits.

Big Sandy Medical Center

Big Sandy has the 4th fastest ER visits in the US. Per the report, the median time from when you walk in the door until the time you exit at this small hospital is just 53 minutes.

Serving a population of 2,644 people (plus the surrounding area), you won't wait all day in the ER in Big Sandy.

McCone County Health Center/Clinic

The hospital in the tiny town of Circle, MT ranked an impressive 10th place in the US for the shortest time at the ER, with a median visit of an impressive 62 minutes.

While these small-town medical centers may not offer many of the specialized services you'll get at our major hospitals, if you ever find yourself in a health emergency in Big Sandy or Circle, you'll surely appreciate the quick service.