Does Merit Health River Oaks Take Medicare?
Yes — Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood, Mississippi is a Medicare-participating hospital. It appears in CMS Inpatient Payment files with documented payment data across 8 inpatient procedure types, averaging $13,010 per Medicare stay. It also operates an emergency department, so Medicare emergency coverage applies.
Below: a structured answer to Does Merit Health River Oaks Take Medicare?. We pull from CMS public data — Inpatient Payment files, Hospital Compare measures, the Provider Data Catalog — and combine them through the LakeQuality value rubric. Every number is sourced and linked. Why this matters: U.S. hospital costs and quality vary by an order of magnitude between facilities for the same procedure, and the variation is not random — it correlates with hospital type, ownership, regional payment adjustments, and case mix. Understanding how to read the public CMS data is the difference between a defensible hospital choice and a coin flip.
The detailed answer below covers what the underlying data shows, the limitations of that data (the Medicare numbers do not directly tell you what commercial insurance pays, or what you will pay out of pocket), and how to translate the public numbers into the questions a patient or family actually has when comparing hospitals.
Medicare at a Glance: Merit Health River Oaks
- Medicare-participating
- Yes
- Emergency department
- Yes
- Hospital type
- Acute Care Hospitals
- Ownership
- Proprietary
- Procedure types reported
- 8
- Avg Medicare payment
- $13,010/stay
Source: CMS Inpatient Payment files and Hospital Compare. Participation status is inferred from CMS payment reporting — confirm benefits with your specific Medicare or Medicare Advantage plan.
What Medicare Covers at Merit Health River Oaks
Merit Health River Oaks appears in the CMS Inpatient Payment files, which only include hospitals enrolled in Medicare. That enrollment is what lets Medicare Part A pay for covered inpatient stays here. Across the 8 procedure types it reports, Medicare pays an average of $13,010 per stay, about $718 above the Mississippi average of $12,292.
Those figures are what Medicare pays the hospital — not what you pay. Under Original Medicare, inpatient (Part A) costs are driven by the annual deductible and benefit-period coinsurance, not by the hospital's billed amount. Because Merit Health River Oaks runs an emergency department, Medicare emergency coverage applies, and the No Surprises Act caps balance billing for out-of-network emergency care.
If you have Medicare Advantage (Part C) rather than Original Medicare, coverage at Merit Health River Oaks depends on whether the hospital is in your plan's network — call the number on your plan card to confirm before a scheduled procedure. A Medigap supplement can absorb much of the Part A deductible and coinsurance for Original Medicare enrollees.
Key Data
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| CMS Quality Rating | 1/5 |
| Outcome Score | 45/100 |
| Value Grade | D |
| Avg Payment | $13,010 |
| Mortality Better / Worse | 0 / 0 |
| Safety Better / Worse | 0 / 0 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Merit Health River Oaks is a Medicare-participating hospital — it reports payment data to the CMS Inpatient Payment files, which means Medicare covers eligible inpatient and outpatient services there. The data on this page reflects average Medicare payments for inpatient stays; your actual out-of-pocket cost depends on your specific Medicare plan, any supplemental (Medigap) coverage, and the procedure.
Yes. Merit Health River Oaks operates an emergency department. Under Medicare, emergency care is covered at participating hospitals, and the No Surprises Act limits balance billing for out-of-network emergency services.
Merit Health River Oaks averages $13,010 per Medicare inpatient stay across the 8 procedure types it reports — above the Mississippi average of $12,292 and below the national average of $15,878. This is what Medicare pays, not your copay — Part A inpatient costs are governed by the annual deductible and benefit-period rules.
Merit Health River Oaks has a CMS quality rating of 1/5 and an Outcome Score of 45/100. Mortality outcomes are at the national average.
Merit Health River Oaks's average procedure payment of $13,010 is $718 above the Mississippi state average of $12,292, and $2,868 below the national average of $15,878.
More about Merit Health River Oaks
Yes — Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood, Mississippi is a Medicare-participating hospital. It appears in CMS Inpatient Payment files with documented payment data across 8 inpatient procedure types, averaging $13,010 per Medicare stay. It also operates an emergency department, so Medicare emergency coverage applies.
Source: CMS Hospital Price Transparency, 2026.