How We Verify Hospital Information
Our step-by-step source-checking method for Canadian hospital names, addresses, phone numbers, official links, appointment routes, departments and patient navigation details.
On this page
The Verification Ladder
We use a source hierarchy so hospital pages are not built from random web snippets. Stronger sources override weaker sources.
| Priority | Source type | How we use it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Official hospital website | Primary source for current address, switchboard, departments, appointment routes, patient portals and visitor information. |
| 2 | Provincial/territorial ministry or health authority | Confirms facility relationship, service region, public hospital network and official service pages. |
| 3 | Government or public datasets | Used to cross-check names, addresses and facility classifications; examples include open-data healthcare facility datasets. |
| 4 | CIHI and system-level data | Used only for context, indicators and health-system information, not as a substitute for current hospital contact pages. |
| 5 | Accreditation and quality references | Used carefully when official and relevant, without turning a directory page into a clinical recommendation. |
Fields We Manually Check
- Official hospital or facility name, including accents and bilingual names where applicable.
- Street address, city, province/territory and postal code.
- Main phone/switchboard and official contact page.
- Emergency department page when the hospital publishes one.
- Appointment or referral instructions from the hospital or health authority.
- Patient portal, MyChart-style portal or provincial digital health access path when clearly official.
- Parking, visiting hours, medical records, privacy office and billing/finance links.
- Health authority, hospital network, campus name and facility type.
What Happens When Sources Conflict
Conflicts happen: a public dataset may be old, a search result may show a former address, or a hospital network may merge pages after a rebrand. When sources conflict, editors document the conflict internally and give greater weight to the current hospital or health authority page.
If there is uncertainty about an emergency department, service availability, appointment route or phone number, we tell readers to confirm directly with the hospital or health authority before travelling or sending documents.
Last Reviewed and Change Notes
Our hospital pages should include a last-reviewed date and, where useful, a brief note such as “address verified from official hospital page” or “appointment route verified from health authority page.” These signals help readers understand how fresh the directory information is.
Manual Research Disclosure
canadahospitals.org/ uses human writers and editors. Tools may assist with formatting, duplicate checks or data organization, but final public claims about address, phone, appointment route, official links and disclaimers require human editorial review.
Found an outdated hospital detail?
Send the official updated source and we will re-check the page.
Request verification