How Retirement Lists measures hospital access

For eligible U.S. destinations, Hospital Access combines the distance in miles from the destination coordinate to the nearest mapped HIFLD hospital with the number of mapped HIFLD hospitals within 12 kilometers of the destination coordinate. The distance and count components use the same source records but different geographic tests. The nearest-hospital distance is measured in miles; the hospital count uses a 12-kilometer radius.

The distance component applies anchors to nearestHospitalDistanceMiles. Distances between anchors use linear interpolation in miles. The score remains 100 from 0 through 3 miles. A valid distance of 50 miles or more receives zero for the distance component.

These are coordinate-distance anchors. They are not driving distance, travel time, ambulance response time, or a route-specific estimate.

For a valid nonnegative integer hospital count c within 12 kilometers, C(c) = min(100, (log(1 + c) / log(11)) × 100). The first nearby facilities have more influence than later additions. The formula does not imply that ten facilities are clinically sufficient or equivalent in services.

The U.S. Hospital Access model requires both a finite, nonnegative nearestHospitalDistanceMiles value and a nonnegative integer hospital count within 12 kilometers. If either input is missing, invalid, or non-finite, the model fails closed and Hospital Access is unavailable.

Nine eligible Spanish destinations use a separate model based on official municipal evidence. The Hospital Access component uses hospital beds recorded for the matched municipality and the municipality’s population. The broader executable Spain healthcare model also requires valid primary-care-center and urgent-care-center inputs. If population or any required facility input is missing, non-finite, or negative, the model returns no result.

Hospital beds per 100,000 = hospital beds / municipal population × 100,000. Hospital Access = round(min(100, max(0, hospital beds per 100,000 / 800 × 100))). This is a municipality-rate model, not a distance calculation, and must not be compared as though it used the U.S. HIFLD radius method.

Available Hospital Access scores use the shared six-band display scale. Labels summarize the modeled score; they do not rate a hospital, health system, clinician, or expected patient outcome.

The current catalog has 987 destinations reviewed, 774 Hospital Access results available, 765 U.S. model results, 9 Spain model results, and 213 unavailable results. The available results are model-limited values, not direct measurements of care quality.

The U.S. method counts open FEMA RAPT/HIFLD hospital point features within 12 kilometers of each destination coordinate and finds the nearest mapped feature. Its Data period is 2025-09-04T15:17:33.000Z and its observed and packet-generated timestamp is 2026-07-19T07:49:08.739Z; source updated and retrieved or checked are Not recorded; last reviewed is 2026-08-01.

Spain evidence uses the 2025 National Hospital Catalogue, 2026 SIAP healthcare catalogs, and 2025 municipal population. Its observed and packet-generated timestamp is 2026-07-18T07:28:46.281Z; source updated and retrieved or checked are Not recorded; last reviewed is 2026-08-01. An unrecorded date remains Not recorded and is not inferred from another timestamp.

Use Hospital Access as an initial screen for further research. Before choosing a destination or home, confirm the actual route and travel time from the intended address, whether nearby facilities provide the required service, emergency-department and trauma capabilities, specialist availability, appointment and waiting-time conditions, insurance acceptance and expected costs, accessibility and language support, and current operating status.

Hospital Access measures mapped facility availability under the applicable model. It does not measure clinical quality or patient outcomes, emergency response time, driving distance or public-transit travel time, hospital capacity or current bed availability, staffing levels, appointment availability or waiting time, specialist depth, insurance acceptance, treatment cost, whether a facility accepts new patients, whether a facility provides a required service, accessibility or language support, or continuity of care.

The U.S. model counts open HIFLD point features regardless of whether their facility types, services, bed records, or emergency capabilities meet a particular reader’s needs. The destination coordinate is not a home address, and straight coordinate proximity can differ from practical travel.

The Spain model uses municipal counts and population. Municipal boundaries vary in size, and a municipality-wide rate does not show where facilities are located or how easily they can be reached. Neither model predicts closures, openings, staffing changes, service changes, future capacity, or individual health outcomes.