336 Deerfield Road, Boone, NC, 28607 · (828) 262-4100
Beds
121
FY 2025
Star rating
3 of 5
Patient survey: 4 of 5
Net patient revenue
$211.1M
FY 2025
Net income
$20.0M
Patient care margin 4.9%
Discharges
4,365
Occupancy 38.3%
Clinicians
402
From the hospital's yearly cost reports (fiscal years as the hospital reports them)
Locations are shown at the center of the ZIP code.
US dollars as reported. Patient care margin = net patient revenue minus operating expenses, before other income such as grants, donations and investments.
| Fiscal year | Net patient revenue | Operating expenses | Patient care margin | Net income | Discharges | Uncompensated care | Medicare days | Medicaid days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $211.1M | $200.8M | 4.9% | $20.0M | 4,365 | $8.4M | 30.7% | 2.1% |
Official hospital quality measures with the national median across hospitals. For ratios, 1.00 means as many cases as expected.
| Death rate for COPD patients | 9.8% | US median 8.5% |
| Death rate for heart attack patients | 11.9% | US median 11.8% |
| Death rate for heart failure patients | 9.3% | US median 11% |
| Hospital-wide death rate within 30 days | 3.5% | US median 3.9% |
| Death rate for pneumonia patients | 17.8% | US median 15.2% |
| Death rate for stroke patients | 10.6% | US median 11.6% |
Medicare clinicians who list this hospital, by specialty
Inpatient stays by diagnosis related group (DRG), 2024
Official US government data: hospital records, ownership records, yearly cost reports and quality measures, linked by the hospital's CCN and NPI. Financials are for fiscal years as reported by the hospital.
Medicare clinicians who work here
| 2024 | $205.5M | $207.4M | -0.9% | $9.1M | 4,452 | $3.5M | 32.7% | 3.3% |
| 2022 | $187.3M | $182.8M | 2.4% | -$916K | 3,784 | $5.1M | 36.3% | 5.0% |
| 2021 | $180.5M | $164.1M | 9.1% | $30.0M | 3,964 | $8.3M | 38.6% | 10.6% |
| 2020 | $150.8M | $139.1M | 7.7% | $10.6M | 3,838 | $7.7M | 46.9% | 11.3% |
| Readmission rate for COPD | 20.6% | US median 19.8% |
| Readmission rate after a heart attack | 13.4% | US median 14.4% |
| Readmission rate for heart failure | 20.9% | US median 21.3% |
| Readmission rate after hip or knee replacement | 5.1% | US median 5.8% |
| Readmission rate for pneumonia | 18% | US median 17.2% |
| Complications after hip or knee replacement | 3.6% | US median 4.1% |
| Serious complications (patient safety composite) | 0.96 | US median 0.96 |
| C. diff intestinal infections (ratio to expected) | 0.29 | US median 0.28 · better |
| Central line bloodstream infections (ratio to expected) | 0.00 | US median 0.48 |
| MRSA bloodstream infections (ratio to expected) | 0.00 | US median 0.60 |
| Catheter urinary tract infections (ratio to expected) | 0.00 | US median 0.40 |
| Doctors always communicated well | 84% | US median 79% |
| Nurses always communicated well | 83% | US median 80% |
| Patient survey summary star rating | 4 of 5 | US median 3 of 5 |
| Area around the room always quiet at night | 60% | US median 59% |
| Patients who rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10 | 77% | US median 72% |
| Room and bathroom always clean | 68% | US median 73% |
| Patients who would definitely recommend the hospital | 77% | US median 71% |
| Patients who left the emergency department before being seen | 1% | US median 1% |
| Median time in the emergency department before leaving (minutes) | 192 min | US median 148 min |
| Patients prescribed 2 or more opioids or opioids with benzodiazepines at discharge | 15% | US median 15% |
| Patients who got appropriate care for severe sepsis and septic shock | 44% | US median 65% |
| Healthcare workers given the flu vaccine | 92% | US median 79% |
| Stroke patients who got a brain scan within 45 minutes of arrival | 60% | US median 74% |
| 46 |
| $54,819.30 |
| $15,440.52 |
| $14,289.25 |
| DRG 193 SIMPLE PNEUMONIA AND PLEURISY WITH MCC | 35 | $27,935.57 | $10,062.40 | $9,867.73 |
| DRG 177 RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS AND INFLAMMATIONS WITH MCC | 34 | $35,580.32 | $14,213.15 | $12,667.88 |
| DRG 522 HIP REPLACEMENT WITH PRINCIPAL DIAGNOSIS OF HIP FRACTURE WITHOUT MCC | 23 | $53,118.13 | $17,656.96 | $15,768.13 |
| DRG 065 INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGE OR CEREBRAL INFARCTION WITH CC OR TPA IN 24 HOURS | 23 | $27,722.09 | $7,620.17 | $7,474.08 |
| DRG 481 HIP AND FEMUR PROCEDURES EXCEPT MAJOR JOINT WITH CC | 23 | $55,186.00 | $16,025.00 | $15,801.33 |
| DRG 309 CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIA AND CONDUCTION DISORDERS WITH CC | 22 | $16,567.23 | $5,629.00 | $5,247.13 |
| DRG 322 PERCUTANEOUS CARDIOVASCULAR PROCEDURES WITH INTRALUMINAL DEVICE WITHOUT MCC | 19 | $57,368.68 | $15,021.84 | $12,904.99 |
| DRG 194 SIMPLE PNEUMONIA AND PLEURISY WITH CC | 19 | $17,257.05 | $5,851.00 | $5,880.23 |
| DRG 287 CIRCULATORY DISORDERS EXCEPT AMI, WITH CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION WITHOUT MCC | 19 | $31,964.42 | $8,515.47 | $7,565.66 |
| DRG 308 CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIA AND CONDUCTION DISORDERS WITH MCC | 17 | $24,689.53 | $9,598.00 | $9,138.57 |
| DRG 178 RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS AND INFLAMMATIONS WITH CC | 16 | $25,681.50 | $7,806.63 | $7,278.86 |
| DRG 641 MISCELLANEOUS DISORDERS OF NUTRITION, METABOLISM, FLUIDS AND ELECTROLYTES WITHOUT MCC | 16 | $15,295.56 | $5,798.75 | $5,829.71 |
Hospital outpatient services by payment group (APC), 2024
| Service group | Services | Patients | Medicare pays per service | All hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APC 5115 Level 5 Musculoskeletal Procedures | 247 | 234 | $10,530.96 | $10,771.69 |
| APC 5491 Level 1 Intraocular Procedures | 200 | 115 | $1,695.83 | $1,751.67 |
| APC 8011 Comprehensive Observation Services | 186 | 181 | $1,999.79 | $2,090.36 |
| APC 5302 Level 2 Upper GI Procedures | 89 | 87 | $1,376.26 | $1,444.50 |
| APC 5114 Level 4 Musculoskeletal Procedures | 83 | 83 | $5,312.36 | $5,338.75 |
| APC 5072 Level 2 Excision/ Biopsy/ Incision and Drainage | 75 | 72 | $1,202.82 | $1,219.56 |
| APC 5191 Level 1 Endovascular Procedures | 64 | 64 | $2,183.17 | $2,207.96 |
| APC 5374 Level 4 Urology and Related Services | 64 | 54 | $2,568.49 | $2,629.24 |
| APC 5361 Level 1 Laparoscopy and Related Services | 61 | 61 | $4,214.36 | $4,357.80 |
| APC 5375 Level 5 Urology and Related Services | 50 | 44 | $3,688.62 | $3,917.51 |
| APC 5116 Level 6 Musculoskeletal Procedures | 43 | 42 | $15,698.80 | $15,762.73 |
| APC 5373 Level 3 Urology and Related Services | 32 | 17 | $1,509.95 | $1,516.28 |
Reported payments to this teaching hospital
| Company | Payments | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C. | 1 | $1,476 |
Official US government data on Original Medicare hospital stays and outpatient services; groups with fewer than 11 cases are not published. Payments are those drug and device companies must report.
Watauga Medical Center is a government-owned short-term acute care hospital in Boone, NC with 121 beds, part of UNC Health Care System and a 3-star overall rating.
Watauga Medical Center in Boone, NC has 121 beds (fiscal year 2025 cost report); 117 beds are certified for Medicare. It discharged 4,365 inpatients that year, with 38.3% of its beds in use on average.
In fiscal year 2025 (ending 2025-06-30), Watauga Medical Center reported net patient revenue of $211.1M and operating expenses of $200.8M, a margin on patient care of 4.9%. After other income and expenses its net income was $20.0M (9.1% of revenue), so it made a profit that year.
Watauga Medical Center is part of UNC Health Care System, a health system with 16 hospitals based in Chapel Hill, NC. It is a government-owned hospital.
Watauga Medical Center has an overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars in the official hospital quality ratings. Patients rate it 4 out of 5 stars in the patient survey.
Yes, Watauga Medical Center provides emergency services.
402 Medicare clinicians list Watauga Medical Center as a hospital they work at, most often in Nurse Practitioner, Diagnostic Radiology, Family Practice.
In 2024, Watauga Medical Center had 592 Medicare inpatient stays in 26 diagnosis groups. The most common was DRG 871 (septicemia or severe sepsis without mv >96 hours with mcc) with 78 stays; Medicare paid $16,588.85 per stay on average, compared with $15,524.21 across all hospitals.
In 2025, companies reported $1,476 in payments to Watauga Medical Center as a teaching hospital ($1,476 general and - for research) from 1 companies.