Baltimore, MD · Standard risk
Credit card processing for Baltimore medical practices
Patient-responsibility balances collected after adjudication, where card-on-file and Level 2 data decide your real cost. Here is how that plays out for a medical practice operating in Maryland.
Maryland · zero-cost position
Surcharging generally permitted
Our reading as of August 2026. Verified per engagement — not relied on from a web page.
Credit-card surcharging is generally reported as permitted in this state, subject to the card-brand rules: the surcharge may not exceed your actual cost of acceptance, it may never be applied to debit or prepaid cards, and it must be disclosed at the point of entry and again at the point of sale. A cash-discount program is also available if you prefer that framing.
Maryland permits surcharging. Baltimore's medical and dental density means the more pressing exposure is usually card-on-file architecture for patient balances and payment plans, which puts practices in PCI scope unnecessarily.
What Baltimore means for a medical practice
A dense medical and professional-services corridor, where patient-responsibility balances and card-on-file architecture are the main compliance exposure.
Practices increasingly collect a patient balance weeks after the visit, which means storing a card and billing it later. That is card-on-file, and doing it inside practice-management software puts the practice in PCI scope unnecessarily. HSA and FSA cards plus commercial plans make Level 2 data capture material on every larger balance.
Where Baltimore medical practices lose basis points
- Level 2 data absent on commercial and benefit cards
- Post-adjudication balances keyed without verification data
- Payment plans running without correct recurring indicators
How we would structure it
- Tokenized card-on-file for post-visit balance collection
- Level 2 data configured for commercial and benefit cards
- PCI scope reduction so card data never lands in practice systems
- Payment plans with dunning that does not require staff chasing
- Zero-cost structured as a surcharge or cash discount program for Maryland, with the disclosure and receipt language installed as part of the work
Built in Chicago
EY Loma Solutions is a Chicago practice, and every piece of software we ship is designed and built here. When we build a medical practice a custom CRM with payments inside it, that work is done by our own people in Chicago — not offshored and not white-labeled from somebody else's platform.
How our CRM builds workQuestions
Baltimore medical practices, answered
Can Baltimore medical practices legally run 0% cost processing?
Maryland permits surcharging. Baltimore's medical and dental density means the more pressing exposure is usually card-on-file architecture for patient balances and payment plans, which puts practices in PCI scope unnecessarily. For a medical practice specifically, we would structure this as a surcharge or cash discount program sized against a $95–$3,200 average ticket. As of August 2026 that is our reading of the Maryland position, and we re-verify it as part of every engagement rather than relying on a page like this one.
What should a Baltimore medical practice be paying to process cards?
The only number worth comparing is your effective rate: total fees divided by total volume processed. For medical practices with a $95–$3,200 ticket and a card mix that is patient responsibility balances, hsa/fsa and payment plans, the cost drivers are specific — level 2 data absent on commercial and benefit cards is the most common one we find. We derive your effective rate from three statements at no cost.
Do you have Baltimore references, or are you remote?
We are a Chicago practice and we work with merchants across the United States, Baltimore included. Every engagement runs the same way regardless of geography — statements in, arithmetic out, in writing. A dense medical and professional-services corridor, where patient-responsibility balances and card-on-file architecture are the main compliance exposure.
Is medical practice in Maryland hard to get approved?
No. Medical practices are standard risk in Maryland, so you should be looking at a competitive market of acquirers. If you have been quoted high-risk pricing for a standard-risk category, that is worth questioning.
Do you build custom CRM software for Baltimore businesses?
Yes — all of our software is designed and built in Chicago. Sometimes, though this vertical is usually better served by tightening the payment layer around existing practice-management software. Builds are delivered with source code and full data export, with card, ACH and recurring billing embedded in the workflow.
Baltimore medical practices: find out what you are actually paying.
A statement review costs you nothing and takes us under an hour. Surcharging generally permitted in Maryland.