Merkel Nursing Center: Nursing Home OverviewSkip to content

Merkel Nursing Center

  • Nursing Home

Updated Nov 1, 2023 by Nick Reese

Historical Rating
Grade: C
Oct 18: CNov 18: CDec 18: CJan 19: CFeb 19: CMay 19: CJun 19: CJul 19: B-Aug 19: B-Sep 19: B-Jan 20: B-Mar 20: B-Apr 20: B-May 20: B-Jun 20: B-Jul 20: B-Aug 20: B-Sep 20: BOct 20: BNov 20: BJan 21: B-Feb 21: CMar 21: CApr 21: DMay 21: DJun 21: DJul 21: CAug 21: CSep 21: COct 21: CNov 21: CJan 22: BFeb 22: BMar 22: BApr 22: B+May 22: B+Jun 22: B+Aug 22: B+Sep 22: B+Oct 22: B-Nov 22: B-Jan 23: BFeb 23: BMar 23: BApr 23: DJun 23: DJul 23: DAug 23: DSep 23: DOct 23: CNov 23: C
See Rating Overview
Merkel Nursing Center's website

1704 N 1st,
Merkel TX 79536

(325) 928-5673

56.46% estimated occupancy 1

Merkel Nursing Center is the lone option we found in Merkel, Texas. We gave this facility an overall grade of C. A grade in this range requires some respectable marks. Based on our analysis, this place likely wouldn't be a bad choice. The best part of this place's profile is is its inspection grade. Inspection reports are discussed in the next section.

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Quick Details

  • Accepts Medicare 1
  • Accepts Medicaid 1
  • No CCRC
  • Has Resident Council
  • No Family Council
  • For profit - Individual

Specialized Services

  • Physical Therapy

Registered Staff Hours

Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2022)
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Facility Inspections

Grade: B-plus

One of the reasons this is a decent facility is it earned a favorable inspection score. In that area, we awarded this facility a B+. Perhaps the most significant factor we look at in calculating our inspection grades is deficiencies. Deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Nursing homes with better scores in this area typically dodged the most severe deficiencies involving things like patient abuse. Although this facility had some deficiencies on its report, none were serious based on CMS' deficiency scale. A couple of minor deficiencies should not lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

Short-term Care Quality

Grade: B

Additionally, we also wanted to note that this facility received strong short-term care marks this year. We awarded them one of our better scores in this area, with a grade of B. This turned out to be the nursing home's second best grade. With our short-term care rating, we strive to forge a meaningful barometer for rehabilitation services. In this process, we assess a nursing home's level of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as speech therapy. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this nursing home submitted registered nurse or physical therapist staffing data. The final item we considered in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.

Nurse Quality

Grade: D

Another strength of this nursing home is its favorable grade in nursing. We awarded them one of our better scores in that area, with an D. Our nursing grade is largely based on the facility's level of nurse staffing. This place provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient per day. This is an alarmingly low total. Lastly, we also looked at some nursing quality measures in determining our nursing scores. This nursing home fared well in the area of minimizing its residents' major falls and pressure ulcers. Many consider these datapoints to be indicators of the quality of nursing care.

Long-term Care Quality

Grade: F

Turning to the next area, this nursing home really didn't fare well. Due to a poor grade of F in long-term care, this was this nursing home's weakest category. For prospective residents seeking a permanent residence as opposed to skilled nursing, long-term care is an important category. After assessing the volume of care provided by nurses and other staff, we turned to the nursing home's vaccination data. We were pleased to discover that this facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia. To our surprise, this facility was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. It had just 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. Sadly, a few of its other scores in the category were not as favorable as these.

Rating Over Time

Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.

FDCB-BB+A-AA+Oct 18Dec 23

Merkel Nursing Center Quality Metrics

Minimizes Pressure Ulcers

Grade: F

In Merkel Nursing Center, 18.75% of Patients had Pressure Ulcers

This metric gauges the percentage of long-term care residents who suffer from pressure ulcers . We bake this statistic into both nursing and long-term care grades.

Minimizes Serious Falls

Grade: C

In Merkel Nursing Center, 4.69% of Patients had Serious Falls

This figure is an indication of the percentage of long-term residents that have sustained falls which caused serious injury. We use this statistic in calculating our nursing grades.

Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections

Grade: D

In Merkel Nursing Center, 5.17% of Patients had UTIs

This tells you the percentage of patients who have had a urinary tract infection. UTI's are routinely associated with lower quality nursing care. Better hygiene protocols reduces the number of UTI's sustained by residents in a nursing home. We want to point out that this statistic is sometimes skewed by the fact that facilities have different reporting standards for infections.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication

Grade: C

In Merkel Nursing Center, 18.9% of Patients use Anti-Psychotic Medication

This metric indicates the percent of long-term patients that were prescribed antipsychotic medication. High levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents in scenarios where such medications aren't medically required. However, some facilities need to rely on these drugs due to having more residents suffering from cognitive disorders.

Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication

Grade: D

In Merkel Nursing Center, 30.84% of Patients use Anti-Anxiety Medication

This tells you the percentage of patients who were prescribed antianxiety drugs. Antianxiety drugs are given to patients experiencing anxiety or depression.

Managing Depression Among Residents

Grade: B

In Merkel Nursing Center, 4.1% of Patients

This indicates the percent of residents demonstrating symptoms of depression.

Appropriate Vaccine Usage

Grade: A

In Merkel Nursing Center, 100% of Patients

This tells you the percentage of patients that were administered the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be standard at this point.

Residents Maintain Autonomy

Grade: D

In Merkel Nursing Center, 25.71% of Patients

This is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay residents who required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as getting dressed and continence. Many in the industry believe that this is a measure of a resident's well-being.

Ability to Keep Residents Mobile

Grade: A-plus

In Merkel Nursing Center, 31.95% of Residents

This is the percentage of patients who maintained mobility over time. Preserving mobility is usually a great sign for residents' health.

Hospitalizations

Grade: C

In Merkel Nursing Center, 0.01 Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days

This indicates the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care.

Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations

Grade: F

In Merkel Nursing Center, 31.95% of Residents Rehospitalized

This is the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between staying out of the hospital and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.

Nearby Hospitals

  • Hendrick Medical CenterAcute Care Hospitals 17.02 miles away1900 Pine Abilene Texas 79601Voluntary non-profit - Private(325) 670-2000
  • Abilene Regional Medical CenterAcute Care Hospitals 17.69 miles away6250 Hwy 83/84 Abilene Texas 79606Proprietary(325) 428-1000

Nearby Dialysis

  • Fresenius Medical Care Abilene Lone Star13.9 miles away349 South Danville Drive Abilene Texas 79605CMS Rating: 4 stars Dialysis Stations: 19 (325) 691-0772
  • Fresenius Medical Care Abilene16.99 miles away1802 Pine St Abilene Texas 79601CMS Rating: 4 stars Dialysis Stations: 31 (325) 672-3243
  • Fmc Dialysis Services of Abilene South17.39 miles away2009 Hospital Place Abilene Texas 79606CMS Rating: 4 stars Dialysis Stations: 26 (325) 793-2594

Helpful Articles

Footnotes:

  1. https://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/profile.html#ID=676053