CostGrade
A

84/100

#233 nationally

Meritus Medical Center

11116 Medical Campus Road, Hagerstown, MD 21742 · (240) 313-9500

Charges close to what care is actually paid for

For every $1 of care Medicare actually paid for here, Meritus Medical Center billed $1.08 in list charges. That gap does not change a Medicare patient's bill — but it is where an uninsured or out-of-network bill starts.

Charge-to-payment
1.1x
volume-weighted across all its priced work
Procedures priced
129
inpatient and outpatient combined
Rank in MD
#21
lower markup ranks higher
CMS quality stars
3/5
shown for context, not in the grade

How this grade was reached

Each component is scored against every other U.S. hospital in the same federal files, so the grade is a position in the country, not a pass mark we invented.

Inpatient charge markup 33.3/35

Better than 95% of U.S. hospitals.

Outpatient charge markup 12.5/25

Not published for this hospital — scored at 50% of the component rather than zero, because an absent figure is not a bad one.

Price level vs national median 28.5/30

Better than 95% of U.S. hospitals.

Price consistency 9.5/10

Better than 95% of U.S. hospitals.

What this hospital treats most

The ten procedures it billed Medicare for most often, with its charge beside the national middle.

Procedure Patients Charged Actually paid vs national
Sepsis (severe)

MS-DRG 871 · Inpatient stay

637 $21,012 $19,542 -68%
Heart Failure (severe)

MS-DRG 291 · Inpatient stay

288 $12,834 $11,844 -70%
Respiratory Failure

MS-DRG 189 · Inpatient stay

245 $16,668 $15,411 -66%
Sepsis (without major complications)

MS-DRG 872 · Inpatient stay

149 $11,239 $10,432 -71%
Aftercare, Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue with Complications

MS-DRG 560 · Inpatient stay

137 $35,603 $32,883 -13%
COPD (severe)

MS-DRG 190 · Inpatient stay

134 $11,158 $10,290 -73%
Pneumonia (severe)

MS-DRG 193 · Inpatient stay

121 $13,590 $12,574 -71%
Respiratory Infection (severe)

MS-DRG 177 · Inpatient stay

104 $19,674 $18,102 -64%
Gastrointestinal Bleeding (with complications)

MS-DRG 378 · Inpatient stay

101 $11,580 $10,749 -72%
Psychoses

MS-DRG 885 · Inpatient stay

98 $14,354 $13,136 -60%

Where its charges run furthest above the national middle

Only procedures it performed at least eleven times, so a single unusual case cannot produce the headline.

Procedure Charged Actually paid vs national
Aftercare, Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue with Complications

MS-DRG 560 · Inpatient stay

$35,603 $32,883 -13%
Degenerative Nervous System Disorders without Major Complications

MS-DRG 057 · Inpatient stay

$30,407 $28,194 -36%
Aftercare, Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue with Major Complications

MS-DRG 559 · Inpatient stay

$36,467 $33,523 -38%
Signs and Symptoms of Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue without Major

MS-DRG 556 · Inpatient stay

$18,910 $17,472 -50%
Major Chest Procedures with Complications

MS-DRG 164 · Inpatient stay

$52,679 $49,321 -52%
Degenerative Nervous System Disorders with Major Complications

MS-DRG 056 · Inpatient stay

$39,952 $36,538 -54%
Other Circulatory System Diagnoses with Major Complications

MS-DRG 314 · Inpatient stay

$35,115 $32,004 -55%
Major Small and Large Bowel Procedures without Complications/mcc

MS-DRG 331 · Inpatient stay

$32,983 $31,079 -56%

Where it charges least relative to everyone else

Procedure Charged Actually paid vs national
Other Major Cardiovascular Procedures with Major Complications

MS-DRG 270 · Inpatient stay

$30,118 $27,911 -87%
Extensive Operating Room Procedures Unrelated to Principal Diagnosis with Major

MS-DRG 981 · Inpatient stay

$32,647 $30,130 -82%
Stomach, Esophageal and Duodenal Procedures without Complications/mcc

MS-DRG 328 · Inpatient stay

$13,713 $12,912 -82%
Stroke (uncomplicated)

MS-DRG 066 · Inpatient stay

$6,480 $6,123 -82%
Pleural Effusion with Major Complications

MS-DRG 186 · Inpatient stay

$12,903 $12,053 -82%
Bronchitis and Asthma with Complications/mcc

MS-DRG 202 · Inpatient stay

$7,246 $6,738 -82%
Traumatic Stupor and Coma <1 Hour with Complications

MS-DRG 086 · Inpatient stay

$10,704 $9,897 -81%
Other Multiple Significant Trauma with Complications

MS-DRG 964 · Inpatient stay

$13,714 $12,721 -81%

What this page cannot tell you

  • It is not your bill. These are averages across Medicare patients. What you pay depends on your insurance, your plan's negotiated rate and your own case.
  • It is not a quality rating. A hospital with a high markup may be excellent, and one with a low markup may not be. We checked: across every U.S. hospital, markup and the CMS quality star rating barely move together.
  • A charge is not a cost. Hospitals do not collect their list charges from insured patients. The number matters because it is the opening figure on an uninsured or out-of-network bill.
  • Ask for the real number. Every U.S. hospital must publish a machine-readable price file and give you a written good-faith estimate on request.