Psychiatric Bed Locator

WHAIC developed the Psychiatric Bed Locator Tool to assist general authorized users to locate potential availability of psychiatric beds for the purpose of referring patients for care. The Psychiatric Bed Locator Tool is limited to the state of Wisconsin so it cannot be used to locate psychiatric beds in another state.

Important Notice

It is important to understand the capabilities and limitations of this tool. The strength of the web site is that it is fast and easy for providers to electronically search for potential openings for psychiatric beds, and thus speeding the ability for emergency department staff to locate and subsequently contact a facility with a potentially appropriate bed. Having such information available will reduce the likelihood that time will be spent calling a facility that does not have any bed availability. Once potential services are located, contact information and basic information including contact names and numbers, are easy to obtain on this site.

This web site is not a reservation system for psychiatric beds. When a potentially available bed is located on this web site, providers must still contact the facility to discuss potential patient transfers and to make arrangements for services. Although a bed may be listed as potentially available, the bed may not be appropriate for all admissions as determined by the unit. All of the facilities' admission and transfer policies will continue to apply. If the web site indicates an available open bed, it does not mean that this bed is guaranteed. Providers must not send patients directly to a facility based upon the indication that there is a bed open from this web site. It is essential that you first contact the facility to arrange for patient transfer and admission.

To help increase the utility of the Bed Locator Tool for emergency department staff seeking a psychiatric bed, participants utilizing the Bed Locator Tool are strongly encouraged to update their potential bed availability at least twice per day (encouraging to report once in the morning and once in the late afternoon/early evening). Of course, a facility/unit may update their availability more frequently and/or when additional beds become potentially available for new admissions. While updates at least twice per day are encouraged, it is up to the facility's discretion as to when and how often it chooses to update this information.