Spring Hill Rehab: Lab Work Halted for Weeks - Pittsburgh, PA
The breakdown at Spring Hill Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, on Rhine Street in Pittsburgh, came to light during a complaint inspection on December 23, 2025. Inspectors reviewed clinical records for five residents and found that four of them, identified in the report as Residents R1, R2, R3, and R4, had not received physician-ordered lab work.
One resident's records showed a diagnosis of hyponatremia, a condition in which sodium levels in the blood fall below the normal range. The resident also had Parkinson's disease and high cholesterol. A physician had ordered sodium levels drawn weekly. A review of the November medication administration record showed no sodium level recorded on November 26. By December 12, the situation had worsened enough that the physician issued an order to send the resident to the emergency department, citing vomiting, swelling in both legs, pain in both legs, and an inability to obtain labs to monitor sodium.
That December order was for a single day. The underlying problem, no one drawing the labs at all, had been building for weeks.
A separate physician order dated September 11, 2025 instructed staff to fax all lab results weekly to a nephrology practice at AHN. Inspectors found no documentation that those labs had been completed or faxed.
During an interview at 3:00 p.m. on December 23, the nursing home administrator and director of nursing confirmed what the records showed. The lab work had not been completed for residents for approximately the last four weeks. Before that, a contractor had come into the facility to draw labs. That arrangement had apparently ended, and nothing replaced it.
The administrator and director of nursing also confirmed that the facility had previously been sending residents to dialysis and to drug and alcohol treatment programs but had become unable to send residents directly to those programs.
The inspection report does not explain why the contractor relationship ended, what the facility knew about the gap as it was developing, or whether any physician was notified that ordered labs were not being drawn. It does not say whether the resident who was sent to the emergency department on December 12 suffered harm from the missed monitoring. The harm level for the deficiency was cited as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and inspectors noted that some residents were affected.
What the record does show is that a patient with a condition requiring weekly blood draws to monitor a potentially serious electrolyte imbalance went without those draws for at least several weeks, and that the people running the facility confirmed it.
Spring Hill is a licensed nursing facility. Lab monitoring for residents with conditions like hyponatremia is not an optional service. It is the mechanism by which physicians track whether a patient's condition is stable, improving, or deteriorating. When those results stop arriving, the physician ordering them is working without the information the order was designed to produce.
The facility was cited under Pennsylvania regulations governing licensee responsibility and nursing services. A plan of correction was required. Inspectors noted that anyone seeking information on the facility's plan to correct the deficiency should contact the nursing home or the state survey agency directly.
The resident who ended up in the emergency department on December 12, unable to have labs drawn at the facility, had a doctor who had been trying to get weekly sodium readings since at least September. For at least part of those weeks, nobody was coming to draw them.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Spring Hill Rehabilitation and Nursing Center from 2025-12-23 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 19, 2026 · Our methodology
SPRING HILL REHABILITATION AND NURSING CENTER in PITTSBURGH, PA was cited for violations during a health inspection on December 23, 2025.
One resident's records showed a diagnosis of hyponatremia, a condition in which sodium levels in the blood fall below the normal range.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.