About Swedish Southwest ER
Expert care built for you in Littleton, CO
Swedish Medical Center Southwest ER (SWER) is an award-winning, full-service 24-hour emergency department. We offer patients access to a full range of services on-site as well as Swedish-satellite administrative offices. Southwest ER was the first free-standing emergency department in the Denver area, servicing the southwest Jefferson county area.
We accept most insurance providers and welcome Kaiser Permanente members.
Our team can be reached 24/7 for questions about our services. Call (303) 932-6911.
Don’t wait! Our ER wait times are often less than 30 minutes. Check the bar above for our ER wait time estimate.
Rocky Mountain Hospital affiliate
When your child needs medical attention after hours, we are here to help! As part of the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children system of pediatric care, children are treat by experienced, board-certified physicians as well as specially trained pediatric nurses. We pride ourselves as an “ouchless ER”, providing compassionate care while creating a comfortable environment for our patients and their parents. If your child requires further care, he/she will be transferred to Rocky Mountain Hospital, giving your child access to the widest spectrum of pediatric specialty care in Denver.
Southwest ER amenities
Our facility has a wide variety of services on-site, including:
- 18 private patient rooms
- Diagnostic imaging
- Laboratory health analysis
- 16-slice CT scanner, dedicated X-ray and ultrasound suite
- Low-risk cardiac program for chest pain
Service excellence
At Swedish Southwest ER, we are known for our SWER Low-Risk Cardiac Program for Chest Pain Patients and are a national leader in patient satisfaction among ER patients in the United States. Swedish provided care for more than 20,000 patients last year; you can be assured that your health is in the best hands possible at a Swedish health center.
SWER radiology
The Southwest ER radiology department provides radiology services to emergency patients and walk-in basis. Our board-certified radiology technicians are available 24 hours a day to perform essential X-ray and CT services to outpatients.
With American College of Radiology accreditation, we are qualified to offer the lowest radiation dosage for all scans.
Contact Penny Fletcher by email or at (303) 788-5709 with any questions or concerns you have regarding our radiology services.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Southwest ER
Swedish understands that there are many questions around emergency rooms, both attached to a hospital and free-standing, as well as urgent cares, where to seek care and more. We hope the following frequently asked questions will provide some clarity when you are seeking care. We will also update this list as common questions arise.
Does the Swedish Southwest ER provide urgent care services?
No. The Swedish Southwest emergency room (ER) is state licensed to operate only as an emergency room. The emergency services offered at the Swedish Southwest ER are the same as the services offered at the Swedish Medical Center main ER.
I'm not sure I need an ER. If I call you, can you tell me if it sounds like I need an ER or urgent care?
Unfortunately no, that is not something our ER staff can do. EMTALA guides this as well. The Swedish Southwest ER cannot "triage" or try to diagnose a patient over the phone as a phone call does not constitute a proper examination with our ER physicians, and our staff is not licensed to do so. This is the same case at the front desk at all Swedish emergency rooms: we cannot provide medical counsel about whether a patient's condition "warrants" an ER visit without an actual examination.
However, the Colorado Hospital Association has a great resource to help you determine what type of care you or loved one may need: your primary care physician, an urgent care or an emergency room. Visit Where For Care? to learn more.
Do Swedish's emergency rooms take my insurance?
Swedish Medical Center, including the Southwest ER and the Belmar ER, takes all major insurance. You can call our insurance verification line at 804-267-4000 to inquire about your specific insurance (available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 pm Eastern time). However, with the many specific nuances in insurance plans, we recommend you contact your insurance company to find out for sure. The insurance company would have the most up-to-date information about what your plan covers, in-network vs. out of network, co-pays, etc.
Do you take care of children?
Yes! Through our affiliation with Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, we are able to offer excellent pediatric care and have pediatric specialists immediately available for consult by phone, or through telemedicine. We also have exam rooms dedicated to pediatric care, with special pediatric tools and colorful imagery.
What happens if I need to be admitted to the hospital?
The Swedish Southwest ER is fully integrated as a department of Swedish Medical Center. If your treating physician determines that you require admission to Swedish, we will arrange for you to be transported by ambulance directly to an inpatient room at Swedish Medical Center (or "direct admit," which means you don't need to be seen in the Main ER). Your ER physician will provide information about your condition to an admitting physician at Swedish before you arrive.
There is no fee for ambulance transport if you are being admitted to Swedish Medical Center — just as if you were admitted from the Swedish Main ER. As we like to say, "it's just a long hallway you have to take an ambulance to get down it."
However, if you choose to be admitted to another hospital other than Swedish and require ambulance transport, your insurance company will be billed by the ambulance company.
How much does it cost to go to the Swedish Southwest ER?
The cost of a visit to any emergency room, including our Main ER, Swedish Southwest ER, and the Belmar ER, varies depending on:
- Your condition
- Diagnosis and treatments delivered; this includes your visit with our physician but also may include lab work, radiology/imaging, prescription written, urinalysis and many more tests and tools used for diagnosis and treatment.
- Like all emergency rooms, the three Swedish emergency rooms provide emergency treatment into 5 levels as defined by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid.
- Your insurance coverage: Financial responsibility can vary depending on your insurance plan, including co-pay and potentially co-insurance, and deductible. We recommend you review your insurance coverage to better understand your financial responsibility for an ER visit.
If you have questions, please feel free to call our toll free pricing advice line 1-888-824-7655 to speak to our billing experts or visit our patient financial page for additional information.
Why can't I be told about pricing at the ER before I receive treatments?
All emergency rooms are strictly regulated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (or EMTALA), a federal statute that directs that all patients who present at an emergency department must be seen for care (with specific exceptions* and how to handle them as defined by EMTALA). EMTALA is Section 1867(a) of the Social Security Act, within the section of the U.S. Code that governs Medicare. The American College of Emergency Physicians created this quick video to help explain as well.
What does this mean, though? Specifically, as it relates to understanding the prospective cost of emergency room medical care, EMTALA directs hospitals that they cannot provide financial information that may dissuade a patient from seeking care due to inability to pay. In short, if a patient comes to a Swedish emergency room in need of medical care, we provide medical care*, insurance or financial status notwithstanding. (*Exceptions are only due to EMTALA-directed guidelines, not a patient's ability to pay.)
In addition, at the registration desk at the front of the emergency room, our staff is not able to provide an estimate of cost because the patient has not yet been evaluated and diagnosis and treatments not yet determined/administered, plus ultimate out of pocket costs are dependent on insurance coverage and how much a patient has met of their annual deductible, which is information our front desk registrars don't have.
Do ambulances come to the Swedish Southwest ER?
Yes, the Swedish Southwest ER is equipped to receive ambulances and we are proud to be a resource for our local EMS providers. Just as at the Swedish Main ER, and the Belmar ER, we seek to provide a seamless transition of care for patients arriving by ambulance. We also want to be good neighbors, and realize residential communities surround our location. We've shared this feedback with our EMS partners and they strive to minimize disturbances caused by lights and sirens.