Mercy Circle
3659 West 99th Street, Chicago IL 60655 · (773) 253-3600 · 96.52% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Mercy Circle is a very-small non-profit nursing home located in Chicago, Illinois. We awarded this facility an above average overall score of A+. In fact, we ranked it as the third best nursing home in Chicago. We could not find many bad things to say about this place. Its scores are just impeccable. We also gave this nursing home phenomenal ratings in each of the major categories we assessed. More information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 23 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Church related
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Short-term Care Quality
One of the reasons this turned out to be a great nursing home is that it earned an A+ short-term care grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this area. Short-term care grades are typically used to score a facility's performance with rehabilitation. To provide highly rated rehabilitation services, nursing homes generally must provide higher levels of highly skilled nursing. These types of services include registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other types of therapists. This facility excelled at the highest level in the two key staffing areas we looked at. It offered about 50% more care from physical therapists and registered nurses than the average nursing home. This is an excellent sign. The last statistic we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We found that it performed as well as just about any facility in Illinois in this area with 62.6 percent of its residents returning home. At most facilities, fewer than half of their short-stay residents are able to return home.
Facility Inspections
The next category we looked at was inspections, where this facility also received an A+ grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in determining our inspection ratings. One key factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of the deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some are relatively insignificant. Fortunately, although this facility had a few minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means that the inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Long-term Care Quality
Turning the page to our third category, this top-shelf nursing home also excelled in the category of long-term care. In this area, we gave it a grade of A+. Very few facilities fared better in this area. Nursing homes that excel in long-term care tend to be well-staffed and offer extensive hands on care to patients. On top of assessing the amount of care provided by aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home provided the vaccine to 95.588234 percent of its residents, which is an impressive figure. Pneumonia is often a life threatening health condition for nursing home residents so we like it when a nursing home does not leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.
Nurse Quality
The final category we scored was nursing. We gave it another elite score of A+ in this category. This wrapped up a flawless profile of all A+'s. There are numerous factors within this grade. Most of the factors are tied to staffing levels. This place boasts a really impressive 4.6 hours of nursing care per patient on a daily basis, of which a significant percentage was provided by registered nurses. This is one of the most highly highly trained levels of nurses. In addition to offering high levels of nursing care, this facility also excelled in the quality-based metrics we assessed. By way of illustration, it performed as well as any nursing home in the country when it comes to minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these data points as reliable measures of the quality of nursing care being provided.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Mercy Circle Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents that have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered to be an indicator of nursing care at a nursing home. Pressure ulcers, also called bed sores, are often the result of patients not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of residents who suffered from a fall leading to serious injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of patients who sustained a urinary tract infection. These infections could be associated with insufficient hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic drugs may be vital to many residents, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used appropriately. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may indicate that a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is a measure of the percent of long-term residents which are given antianxiety drugs. These drugs are typically given to patients suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term stay patients who are exhibiting depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term care residents who have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be fatal for nursing home patients, making these vaccines vital to patient care.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay residents that needed additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as dressing and taking a bath.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term patients who maintained mobility. Some argue that the ability to move around is important for residents' mental and physical health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is a measure of the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term resident care. Keeping residents out of the hospital during rehabilitation is key to restoring the physical well-being of residents.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This tells you the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care. There is generally a correlation between fewer emergency room visits and the quality of nursing home care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This tells you the percent of short-term care residents that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better