The Earlwood
20820 Earl Street, Torrance CA 90503 · (310) 371-1228 · 86.66% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
The Earlwood is one of a variety of options to choose from in Torrance, California. This facility received an uninspiring overall grade of D in our grading scheme. This is not the worse place we looked at, but we would still struggle to recommend it. If you aren't deterred by this nursing home's profile, feel free to continue reading to learn more about its category grades. Inspection grades are discussed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 87 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
Although we were not complementary of this nursing home's overall performance, it did receive an impressive inspection report this year with few dings from the applicable government inspectors. As a result, it received one of our better grades in that category with a B. Arguably the most critical factor we consider in calculating our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies are found on a facility's recent inspection reports. It is typically in your best interest to avoid nursing homes that have too many deficiencies. This facility was hit with 8 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This means that CMS didn't deem any of the deficiencies to cause an imminent risk to resident safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies are not necessarily the end of the world.
Short-term Care Quality
This facility was awarded its second highest category grade in the area of short-term care. We gave this facility a B- in this category, which is a reasonably acceptable score. Short-term care scores are vital for prospective residents needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically mandates higher levels of highly-skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing includes a broad scope of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, as well as other types of therapy. One of this nursing home's strengths is physical therapy hours. We found that it offers more hours with physical therapists to its residents than most facilities. Lastly, we looked at the number of patients who returned home from this facility. We found that it fared better than most facilities in the nation with 51.7 percent of its residents returning home.
Nurse Quality
We awarded this facility a respectable grade in the area of nursing as well, with a grade of B-. Our nursing score is based on the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. We look at both the levels of licensure of those nurses and the amount of time spent with residents. Based on the CMS data, this nursing home offers 3.8 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also looked at a few nursing quality-based metrics and this nursing home excelled in some of these datapoints. With fewer than five percent of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, it fared very well in this metric. This is typically an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as having a policy of moving a patient more frequently.
Long-term Care Quality
Turning to the final area, this nursing home was given a grade of C in long-term care, which is an acceptable rating. Our long-term care ratings are vital for individuals in need of personal care. In addition to looking at the amount of care provided by aids and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 99.07407 percent of its residents, which is higher than the majority of nursing homes. This place keeps its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
The Earlwood Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is a measure of the percent of long-term residents which developed pressure ulcers . We factor in this statistic in computing both nursing and long-term care grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percent of patients that sustained a fall which resulted in severe injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This indicates the percentage of patients that suffered from a urinary tract infection. UTI's are routinely caused by lower quality nursing care. Closer supervision can limit the number of UTI's sustained by residents in a nursing home. Note that this datapoint is affected by by the fact that facilities have varying reporting standards for UTI's.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antipsychotic drugs. While antipsychotic drugs may be vital to many patients, it is important to ensure these medications are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may mean that a nursing home is using these drugs to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This indicates the percentage of residents given antianxiety medications. These medications are commonly used to treat residents experiencing depression or anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This tells you the percentage of patients demonstrating depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is the percentage of patients that were given the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Higher vaccination rates should be demanded by residents.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term care patients who required more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as moving around and eating. Many argue that this is a reasonable measure of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percent of patients who retained mobility levels over time. Optimizing mobility is often a good sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This is a measure of the percent of short-term patients who experienced functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better