Feds fine Brighton nursing home for outbreak-related deficiencies
The head of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday the Beaver County nursing home with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the state has been fined $62,580 “so far” following a three-day federal inspection in May that found problems with basic infectionprevention protocols in the building.
That amount could go higher still because the fine imposed on Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center “continues to accrue” until the privately run nursing home takes “corrective action,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma told Pennsylvania reporters on a phone news conference Thursday afternoon.
“Until they come into compliance, there may be more fines” imposed against Brighton, Ms. Verma said.
The investigation, however, is also not yet complete, she said. Investigators from the CMS survey team are still reviewing medical records with some of Brighton’s staff.
Ms. Verma said some of the initial “deficiencies” investigators found included protective equipment was not worn properly by staff, medical equipment was not properly cleaned, and there were problems with the frequency of medical record documentation.
Brighton is already “in the process of giving us their plan of how they’re going to address the deficiencies,” Ms. Verma said.
Asked to respond to Ms. Verma’s announcement of the fine and the initial findings of the investigation, Brighton’s owners said in an emailed statement, in part: “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have closely adhered to the strict guidelines and recommendations set forth by health officials.”
“While we must continue to be vigilant in our fight against COVID-19, we are making tremendous strides in our ability to gain control of this virus and remove it from our facility,” they added.
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, DMt. Lebanon, who represents Beaver County and who asked CMS to investigate Brighton, said in a statement Thursday: “CMS has kept me informed and we are thankful for their sense of urgency. I have also asked them to evaluate whether the new temporary manager was the right choice and am still awaiting their response.”
As of Thursday, Brighton — the fourth-largest nursing home in the state, with 589 beds — had reported 332 positive COVID-19 cases among residents and 80 resident deaths from COVID-19, with two of those deaths occurring in recent days. In addition, 104 of the nursing home’s more than 300 staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
None of the state’s nearly 700 nursing homes has nearly as many positive cases among residents or staff, or nearly as many deaths related to COVID-19.
One of the most stark statistics to be released by the state in its recent facilityby-facility data on nursing homes is that as of Wednesday, Brighton reported that it had just 334 residents. When the outbreak began, Brighton reported it had about 460 residents.
On May 11, the state imposed an outside temporary manager — Allaire Health Services of Freehold, N.J. — to run Brighton under a state law that allows the state to take action in such a dire circumstance.
The same day the state announced it had hired Allaire, Mr. Lamb and others noticed that Allaire ran a nursing home with a onestar CMS rating — which was a worse rating than Brighton’s two-star overall rating.
Ms. Verma’s call Thursday was part of her effort to explain how President Donald Trump’s administration had “worked tirelessly to protect vulnerable Americans, particularly in nursing homes” during the COVID19 pandemic.
She highlighted the list of steps the administration had taken with nursing homes beginning in early February and in particular noted CMS’ move in early March to have states — which do the overwhelming majority of nursing home inspections for CMS — stop doing routine inspections and focus on infection control compliance inspections.
She said there had been a lot of “finger pointing” about which government entity is most responsible for the outbreaks in nursing homes that have claimed 42% of all COVID-19-related deaths nationally, and 69% of the 6,100 COVID-19-related deaths in Pennsylvania.
But Ms. Verma hoped that the federal-state partnership that jointly oversees nursing homes can continue to push efforts to prevent the situation from getting even worse, in particular by focusing on CMS’ effort for the states to inspect every nursing home in the country for compliance with infection prevention protocols.
She pointed out that Pennsylvania currently has only completed infection prevention surveys of about 16% of its nearly 700 nursing homes, which is the fifthlowest percentage completion in the country so far, although state Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said the state is on track to complete all of the inspections by the deadline in July.
“We’re calling on state and local leaders to focus on this issue” of inspections, Ms. Verma told reporters, “so we can all work together to protect our nation’s seniors.”