Sepsis Cost in South Carolina — Compare All Hospitals
Hospitalization for septicemia or severe sepsis (no extended ventilator) without major complications.
What this hospital charge usually covers
The gross-charge number above is the hospital's facility bill for sepsis. Here's what's typically inside that price (typical inpatient stay: 5–7 days):
Included in the hospital bill
- Emergency department evaluation and sepsis workup
- Inpatient room and continuous monitoring
- IV antibiotics and fluids (often broad-spectrum until culture results return)
- Blood cultures, lactate, and serial labs
- Source-control procedures if needed (drainage, etc.)
Usually billed separately
- Hospitalist, infectious-disease, and any specialty consultant fees
- Outpatient antibiotics after discharge
- Home health for any IV antibiotic continuation
- Long-term rehab if sepsis caused weakness
Quality signals to check before picking a hospital
Price alone won't tell you which hospital does sepsis best. These are the CMS quality measures that matter most for this specific procedure. Click any hospital below for its full profile, then look for these:
Sepsis Care Bundle (SEP-1)
The headline sepsis metric — measures how often hospitals deliver evidence-based sepsis care within strict time windows (antibiotics, fluids, repeat lactate).
Septic Shock 3-Hour Bundle
For the sickest sepsis patients, faster bundle completion saves lives.
Hospital-wide Mortality
Sepsis is the leading cause of in-hospital death. A hospital with strong overall mortality numbers is usually doing the right things for sepsis.
C. diff Infection Ratio
Sepsis treatment requires broad-spectrum antibiotics, which raises C. diff risk. Hospitals with low SIR control this better.
When the cheapest hospital may not be the best fit
The list below sorts by price. For sepsis, the lowest price isn't automatically the best fit — these are situations where it's worth weighing additional factors against price. None of the below is medical advice; talk to your doctor about what applies to your specific situation.
- Sepsis admissions aren't shoppable in real time — the nearest hospital is typically the right call during an acute episode. This page is more useful for chronic-condition planning or evaluating where care was delivered.
- For elderly patients or those with chronic disease, the hospital with the best SEP-1 compliance score may be worth additional travel time when distances are comparable.
Questions to ask your hospital or insurer
The gross charge is the starting point. These are the procedure-specific questions to ask before you commit:
- During acute illness: skip this list and call 911. Sepsis worsens by the hour.
- After discharge: what outpatient antibiotic continuation is needed? Is it covered?
- Is post-sepsis rehab or follow-up recommended? Where will it happen?
Hospitals ranked by gross charge
- 1
Novant Health Hilton Head Medical Center
Hilton Head Island, SC
Gross charge $30,676Cash pay $15,338Medicare pays (avg) $8,685 - 2
Novant Health East Cooper Medical Center
Mount Pleasant, SC
Gross charge $30,676Cash pay $15,338 - 3
Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital
Murrells Inlet, SC
Gross charge $38,652Cash pay $25,124Medicare pays (avg) $5,791 - 4
Cannon Memorial Hospital
Pickens, SC
Gross charge $40,663Cash pay $20,332 - 5
Anmed Health
Anderson, SC
Gross charge $43,131Cash pay $20,332Medicare pays (avg) $7,917 - 6
Mcleod Medical Center - Dillon
Dillon, SC
Gross charge — - 7
Colleton Medical Center (Acute Care)
Walterboro, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $7,229 - 8
McLeod Regional Medical Center
Florence, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $7,000 - 9Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $6,519
- 10
Trident Medical Center (Acute Care)
Charleston, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $6,564 - 11
Grand Strand Regional Medical Center
Myrtle Beach, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $6,797 - 12
Roper Hospital | Roper St. Francis Healthcare
Charleston, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $5,089 - 13
Coastal Carolina Hospital
Hardeeville, SC
Gross charge —Cash pay $65,403Medicare pays (avg) $6,211 - 14
Mount Pleasant Hospital | Roper St. Francis Healthcare
Mount Pleasant, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $5,007 - 15
McLeod Health Loris
Loris, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $5,579 - 16
McLeod Health Cheraw
Cheraw, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $8,014 - 17
Mcleod Health Clarendon
Manning, SC
Gross charge — - 18
Berkeley Hospital | Roper St. Francis Healthcare
Summerville, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $5,686 - 19
Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center
Hartsville, SC
Gross charge —Medicare pays (avg) $6,278
South Carolina hospitals price sepsis (Medicare DRG 872) anywhere from $30,676 to $43,131 — a $12,455 gap between the cheapest and most expensive option. The cheapest is Novant Health Hilton Head Medical Center in Hilton Head Island; the most expensive is Anmed Health in Anderson. The state average sits at $36,759.
Gross charges are list prices, not what most patients pay. Insurance plans negotiate substantial discounts, Medicare and Medicaid pay fixed federal rates, and uninsured patients can usually qualify for a cash-pay discount. But the gross charge still works as a useful benchmark: a hospital that lists sepsis at twice the price of another typically negotiates higher rates with insurers too, and quotes more for uninsured patients.
You usually don't choose a hospital during an urgent sepsis admission. This page is for the planning side: patients with chronic conditions weighing their options, caregivers picking ahead of time, or employers comparing in-network facilities. Click any hospital name for its full quality profile — CMS overall star rating, mortality and readmission rates, patient-experience scores. When two nearby hospitals look similar on quality, the one with lower published charges is the safer default for routine medical admissions.
Pricing comes from each hospital's Machine-Readable File (MRF), published under the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule. South Carolina hospitals missing from the list either don't perform sepsis in volume, haven't published a usable price for DRG 872 in their most recent MRF, or fell below our data-quality thresholds (we filter out clearly erroneous entries like $0 charges). The list refreshes as hospitals update their files.