CostGrade
A

84/100

#237 nationally

Northwest Hospital Center

5401 Old Court Road, Randallstown, MD 21133 · (410) 521-2200

Charges close to what care is actually paid for

For every $1 of care Medicare actually paid for here, Northwest Hospital Center billed $1.13 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
61
inpatient and outpatient combined
Rank in MD
#22
lower markup ranks higher
CMS quality stars
2/5
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

299 $28,260 $25,000 -57%
Psychoses

MS-DRG 885 · Inpatient stay

198 $20,433 $18,113 -43%
Heart Failure (severe)

MS-DRG 291 · Inpatient stay

176 $22,192 $19,700 -49%
Respiratory Failure

MS-DRG 189 · Inpatient stay

108 $22,707 $20,081 -53%
Respiratory Infection (severe)

MS-DRG 177 · Inpatient stay

101 $25,105 $22,268 -54%
Sepsis (without major complications)

MS-DRG 872 · Inpatient stay

93 $18,707 $16,637 -52%
Urinary Tract Infection (without major complications)

MS-DRG 690 · Inpatient stay

65 $12,902 $11,486 -57%
Kidney Failure (with complications)

MS-DRG 683 · Inpatient stay

61 $16,816 $14,903 -49%
Stroke (with complications)

MS-DRG 065 · Inpatient stay

56 $16,576 $14,705 -64%
Kidney or Urinary Disorder (severe)

MS-DRG 698 · Inpatient stay

56 $20,835 $18,689 -63%

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
Other Digestive System Diagnoses with Complications

MS-DRG 394 · Inpatient stay

$24,444 $21,615 -37%
Skin Infection (without major complications)

MS-DRG 603 · Inpatient stay

$18,265 $16,157 -40%
Psychoses

MS-DRG 885 · Inpatient stay

$20,433 $18,113 -43%
Urinary Tract Infection (severe)

MS-DRG 689 · Inpatient stay

$22,680 $20,033 -44%
Kidney Failure (severe)

MS-DRG 682 · Inpatient stay

$29,367 $25,938 -45%
Respiratory Infection (with complications)

MS-DRG 178 · Inpatient stay

$20,111 $17,965 -46%
COPD (with complications)

MS-DRG 191 · Inpatient stay

$17,705 $15,668 -47%
Heart Failure (with complications)

MS-DRG 292 · Inpatient stay

$17,240 $15,234 -48%

Where it charges least relative to everyone else

Procedure Charged Actually paid vs national
Heart Attack (with complications)

MS-DRG 281 · Inpatient stay

$11,695 $10,473 -73%
Sepsis

MS-DRG 870 · Inpatient stay

$75,127 $66,788 -72%
Red Blood Cell Disorders without Major Complications

MS-DRG 812 · Inpatient stay

$10,653 $9,476 -71%
Major Small and Large Bowel Procedures with Major Complications

MS-DRG 329 · Inpatient stay

$51,933 $45,847 -71%
Gastrointestinal Obstruction with Major Complications

MS-DRG 388 · Inpatient stay

$16,873 $15,318 -71%
Respiratory System Diagnosis with Ventilator Support <=96 Hours

MS-DRG 208 · Inpatient stay

$34,606 $30,587 -70%
Postoperative and Post-traumatic Infections with Major Complications

MS-DRG 862 · Inpatient stay

$22,716 $20,065 -69%
Poisoning and Toxic Effects of Drugs with Major Complications

MS-DRG 917 · Inpatient stay

$21,253 $19,045 -69%

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.