Merkel Nursing Center is certified as a Medicare and Medicaid facility and has been approved to provide these services since 2005-06-01. Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing care (typically up to 100 days after a qualifying hospital stay). Medicaid covers long-term care for residents who meet financial eligibility requirements. Contact the facility at (325) 928-5673 or your local Medicaid office to verify current eligibility.

Merkel Nursing Center holds an overall CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) rating of 1 out of 5 stars. This is made up of three components: Health Inspection (1★), Staffing (4★), and Quality of Resident Care (1★). Our independent composite quality score — which uses the raw underlying CMS numbers to break ties between similarly-rated facilities — is 43.8/100, placing it #14488 of 14703 facilities nationally and #1163 of 1177 in Texas. Star ratings are a useful starting point, but the composite score and individual sub-ratings give a more complete picture for families comparing facilities.

Each resident at Merkel Nursing Center receives a reported average of 3 hours 47 minutes of total nurse staffing per day. This breaks down as: Registered Nurse (RN) coverage — 26 minutes; Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) — 1 hour 18 minutes; Nurse Aide — 2 hours 2 minutes. On weekends, total nurse staffing is 3 hours 12 minutes per resident per day. The CMS Staffing Rating for this facility is 4 out of 5. The national average for total nursing hours is approximately 3.5 hrs/day. Total nursing staff turnover is 60.5%. Families are encouraged to ask about current staffing schedules during their facility visit.

In the current reporting period, the facility received 4 fine(s) totaling $291,592. 46 substantiated complaints were recorded across the 5-year period — families should request details from the facility or review CMS inspection findings. In the most recent CMS reporting period, the facility received 4 fine(s) totaling $291,592, and 0 Medicare payment denial(s). Total penalties: 4. The Total Weighted Health Survey Score is 279.75 (lower scores are better). Full inspection history and complaint details are available at medicare.gov/care-compare.

Nationally, Merkel Nursing Center ranks 14488th out of 14,703 facilities (composite score: 43.8/100), placing it in the bottom 25% nationwide. Within TX, it ranks 1163rd out of 1,177 nursing homes. For 2026 staffing: total nurse hours rank #6,461 nationally and RN hours rank #10,048 nationally (#398 in TX). Our composite quality score of 43.8/100 weighs health inspections, quality of resident care, staffing hours, compliance record, and five-year performance trends — giving a more complete picture than CMS star ratings alone, which can place hundreds of facilities in the same 5-star bucket. To browse and compare all nursing homes in Merkel, visit: https://nursinghomesnearme.org/texas/merkel/