Fireside Convalescent Hospital
947 Third Street, Santa Monica CA 90403 · (310) 393-7117 · 93.78% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Fireside Convalescent Hospital is a small non-profit nursing home located in Santa Monica, California. This nursing home received an overall grade of C, which is a good rating. Based on the data we reviewed, there are definitely far worse nursing homes out there. The best part of this place's profile was is its inspection grade. We discuss inspections in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 66 Beds
CCRC :
Non profit - Other
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
The main reason this nursing home received a decent overall grade is its impeccable government inspections in recent years. We awarded it one of our higher grades in that category, with an A-. This is a much better score than the facility's overall grade, which was decent but certainly not elite. Perhaps the most important factor we consider in calculating our inspection scores is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a facility's recent inspection reports. Facilities with higher grades in this category typically avoided the most severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. This facility was assessed 7 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none were considered to be major deficiencies. This tells you that the inspectors didn't deem any of these deficiencies to be an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies should not stop you from considering a nursing home.
Short-term Care Quality
We also wanted to draw your attention to the fact that this facility was awarded a great short-term care grade. In fact, it received one of our most favorable grades in that category with a score of A-. Our short-term care grade is generally employed to measure a facility's performance with rehabilitation. In order to have highly scored rehabilitation services, facilities generally need to provide better levels of skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes registered nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and other licensed professionals. This nursing home boosted its score in this category by offering more than 50% more physical therapy hours to its residents than the average facility. The final datapoint we looked at in this category is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We found that it performed as well as just about any nursing home in California in this area with 66 percent of its patients returning home.
Nurse Quality
One of this facility's better category grades was in the area of nursing care. In that area, we gave this facility a grade of C. When computing a nursing home's nursing score, we weigh the quantity of hours nurses are seeing patients as well as the level of licensure of the nurses. According to CMS records, this facility averaged 3.9 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Keep in mind that when we calculate our nursing ratings, we add more weight to hours performed by nurses with a higher level of training. Lastly, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based measures, such as preventing major falls. This nursing home performed admirably in this metric. Avoiding serious falls is usually a reliable indicator that a facility has quality controls in place. Many falls can be avoided if a nursing home provides enough nurses to assist its residents.
Long-term Care Quality
The final category we rated was long-term care, which proved to be a weak link for this facility. We awarded this facility a D for the area of long-term care. In a long-term care environment, the facility's primary objective is to maintain patients' quality of life and keep them safe. One of the statistics we considered on top of nursing hours is vaccines. Fortunately, this nursing home administered the pneumonia vaccination to 99.082565 percent of its residents. We were far less impressed with the nursing home's hospitalization rate. Here we found that this nursing home had 3.05 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is nearly twice the national average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Fireside Convalescent Hospital Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This tells you the percentage of residents that suffered from a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, also referred to as bed sores, are routinely the result of residents staying in one position for too long. Better nursing care can limit the percentage of residents in a nursing home who sustain pressure ulcers.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of patients who suffered from a major fall. Falls leading to severe injuries are considered by many in the nursing home industry to be an indicator of nursing care . Major falls leading to injury are routinely caused by lower quality nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percent of patients that have had a urinary tract infection. These infections are associated with poor hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This metric gauges the percentage of long-term stay patients receiving antipsychotic drugs. While antipsychotic drugs play an important role in caring for many residents, it is important to confirm these medications are being used appropriately. In some cases, excessive reliance on these medications may suggest a nursing home is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This metric indicates the percent of long-term care residents who are administered antianxiety drugs. These medications are typically used to treat residents experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percentage of long-term care patients demonstrating signs of depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term stay residents that were given the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be very dangerous for nursing home patients, making these types of vaccines important for resident well-being.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
Measures the percentage of long-term care patients that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as getting dressed and taking a bath.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percentage of residents who remained mobile levels over time. Optimizing mobility is usually a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care. There is generally a correlation between keeping patients out of the hospital and the quality of long-term care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This indicates the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term care. There is typically a correlation between having fewer hospitalizations and a nursing homes short-term rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
Measures the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This metric is a measure of the percentage of short-term residents who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better