Spring Mill Health Campus
101 W 87th Ave, Merrillville IN 46410 · (219) 756-0744 · 78.3% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Reese
Spring Mill Health Campus is one of only three available facilities in Merrillville, Indiana. With an overall score of B+, we graded this nursing home to be the highest rated facility in Merrillville. Overall scores in this range are a reliable indication of a solid facility. You can certainly do much worse than this facility. This place's impressive report card was highlighted by its nursing grade, which you can find in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 53 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Individual
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Nurse Quality
To go along with its strong overall score, we gave this nursing home an A for our nursing rating. There are many factors within this area. Most of these factors relate to the quantity of nurse staffing. This particular nursing home provided 5.9 hours of nursing care per resident on a daily basis. This was one of the higher totals we found. In addition, we found that a significant portion of this care was provided by registered nurses, which are highly skilled nurses. Both of these statistics are impressive. On top of offering impressive levels of nursing care, this facility also performed well in several of the quality measures we looked at. For example, in terms of the percentage of its residents suffering falls leading to serious injury, this nursing home performed as well as any nursing home Indiana. Avoiding major falls is generally an indicator that a facility has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can generally be prevented if more nurses and better safety protocols are employed.
Short-term Care Quality
This facility really excelled in the area of short-term care, where we awarded it a score of A. Few facilities performed better in this category. Our short-term care ratings are thought to be more critical for residents in need of a nursing home for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically mandates additional skilled nursing. This means not just nursing services, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other types of therapy. This place is the gold standard when it comes to skilled nursing staffing. In fact, it supplied about 50% more registered nurse and physical therapist hours per patient than the average nursing home. This is what we look for when assessing a facility in this category. Lastly, we looked at the percentage of patients who ultimately were able to return home from this nursing home. In addition to excelling in the area of physical therapy hours, we found that it performed as well as just about any facility in the country in this area with 60.5 percent of its residents returning home.
Facility Inspections
Adding to its impressive category grades, we awarded this nursing home a grade of A- for our inspections rating. Inspection ratings weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we rely on is the number and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher grades in this category generally have few severe deficiencies. This particular nursing home received 9 deficiencies on its inspection report. Overall, this is still a good inspection report, but we'd always recommend looking into any deficiencies you find troubling.
Long-term Care Quality
The final area we assessed was long-term care, which is a weak spot for this facility. We awarded this facility a D in the area of long-term care, rendering this the nursing home's weakest category. We would nevertheless recommend that you consider all of a facility's category grades. When facilities receive a score in this range in long-term care it generally means the facility didn't perform well in our quality measures relating to patient care. Although we determined this facility had a favorable volume of nursing care provided by nurses aids and other nursing staff, we found its vaccine statistics to be somewhat below average. It gave the pneumonia vaccine to just 78.57143 percent of its residents. This is a figure we would like to see this facility improve on. Surprisingly, this facility was actually able to limit hospitalizations. With only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this nursing home has less hospitalizations than many nursing homes. This is its best feature in this category.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Spring Mill Health Campus Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of residents that have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are skin damage due to remaining in the same position for too long.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of residents who sustained a major fall. Falls leading to serious injuries are considered to be a barometer of the quality of nursing care . Major falls which result in injury are often caused by poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percentage of residents who have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are sometimes associated with poor hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percent of residents who were given antipsychotic medications. These medications are sometimes used for several medical conditions, including dementia.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percent of residents prescribed antianxiety medications. Antianxiety drugs are administered to residents suffering from anxiety or depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percent of patients showing symptoms of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint is a measure of the percent of long-term patients that were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
Measures the percentage of long-term residents who needed additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as taking medications and taking a bath. Many argue that this is a reliable measure of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percent of patients that were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a great sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric measures the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. Staying out of the emergency room is one way to assess the well-being of patients during rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This is a measure of the percentage of short-term care patients who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better