6%
Publish usable prices
Grades A or B
13%
No usable file found
Grade F
D
Average grade
across 31 mandated hospitals
2
of 31
with usable prices we could parse

Under the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule, every general acute care hospital in the United States is required to publish a machine-readable file (MRF) listing its standard charges for at least 300 shoppable services. The rule took effect in January 2021, but enforcement has been uneven. CareRanks checks each Maine hospital's MRF on a monthly cycle and assigns a letter grade reflecting what we could find and parse: whether a machine-readable file exists at the hospital's published location, and how much usable pricing it contains.

In Maine, 31 of the 39 facilities reviewed are subject to the rule (VA hospitals, federal psychiatric facilities, children's hospitals, and long-term acute care facilities are exempt or fall under separate transparency programs). Of those, 2 have published comprehensive pricing files that include negotiated rates or cash-pay prices on 25 or more distinct DRGs — earning a Grade A or B. For 4 hospitals we could not locate a usable machine-readable file, which earns a Grade F — that can mean no file is published, or that it is published somewhere our crawler could not find or read.

Use the table below to compare grades, see MRF status, and follow the source link to each hospital's published file. Click a column header to sort. If you spot an out-of-date MRF link or a hospital that should be re-graded, use the "Report an error" link at the bottom of any hospital profile.

31 Maine hospitals graded
Hospital City Grade MRF status Source
Aroostook Medical Center IRF Presque Isle N/A Not mandated
Central Maine Rehabilitation Center Lewiston N/A Not mandated
Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center Bangor N/A Not mandated Hospital site ↗
Mainehealth Behavioral Health at Spring Harbor Westbrook N/A Not mandated Hospital site ↗
New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland, a Portland N/A Not mandated
Northern Light Acadia Hospital Bangor N/A Not mandated Hospital site ↗
Riverview Psychiatric Center Augusta N/A Not mandated Hospital site ↗
Togus VA Medical Center Augusta N/A Not mandated Hospital site ↗
Bridgton Hospital Bridgton No MRF found Hospital site ↗
Central Maine Medical Center Lewiston No MRF found Hospital site ↗
Mount Desert Island Hospital Bar Harbor No MRF found Hospital site ↗
Rumford Hospital Rumford No MRF found Hospital site ↗
Houlton Regional Hospital Houlton MRF published Hospital site ↗
Lincolnhealth Damariscotta MRF published Hospital site ↗
MaineHealth Franklin Hospital Farmington MRF published Hospital site ↗
MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital Rockport MRF published Hospital site ↗
MaineHealth Stephens Hospital Norway MRF published Hospital site ↗
MaineHealth Waldo Hospital Belfast MRF published Hospital site ↗
Millinocket Regional Hospital Millinocket MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light AR Gould Hospital Presque Isle MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light Blue Hill Hospital Blue Hill MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light CA Dean Hospital Greenville MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center Bangor MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital Ellsworth MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light Mayo Hospital Dover Foxcroft MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light Mercy Hospital Portland MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital Pittsfield MRF published Hospital site ↗
Northern Maine Medical Center Fort Kent MRF published Hospital site ↗
Penobscot Valley Hospital Lincoln MRF published Hospital site ↗
Redington Fairview General Hospital Skowhegan MRF published Hospital site ↗
St Joseph Hospital Bangor MRF published Hospital site ↗
St. Mary's Regional Medical Center Lewiston MRF published Hospital site ↗
York Hospital York MRF published Hospital site ↗
Cary Medical Center Caribou MRF published Hospital site ↗
MaineGeneral Medical Center Augusta MRF published Hospital site ↗
Maine Medical Center Portland MRF published Hospital site ↗
MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital Brunswick MRF published Hospital site ↗
Calais Community Hospital Calais MRF published Hospital site ↗
Down East Community Hospital Machias MRF published Hospital site ↗
About the grades

CareRanks grades reflect the depth and usability of a hospital's Machine-Readable File under the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule:

  • A — MRF published with negotiated rates or cash-pay prices on 25 or more distinct DRGs.
  • B — MRF published with negotiated or cash prices on fewer than 25 DRGs.
  • C — MRF published, but priced rows include only gross charges (no cash or negotiated rates).
  • D — MRF exists in our archive, but no priced rows could be parsed.
  • F — No MRF found, despite the federal mandate.
  • One letter lower (A→B, B→C, C→D) — when the file we found does not identify this hospital by name and street address, naming its health system or another facility instead; the rule requires each hospital location to be identifiable. Combined system files that list the location are not penalized.
  • N/A — Not mandated (VA, federal psychiatric, children's, long-term acute care).