Fed, state agents search 2 nursing homes
Federal and state agents on Thursday executed search warrants at Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center and Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County, which had already been under scrutiny by the state attorney general’s office.
U. S. Attorney Scott Brady said in a statement agents from the AG’s office, the FBI, the office of inspector general for Health and Human Services, and IRS- Criminal Investigation were executing court- authorized warrants.
His office would not release any more details other than to encourage anyone with information on suspected fraud or abuse related to long- term care facilities and the COVID- 19 pandemic to report it to the Western Pennsylvania COVID- 19 Fraud Task Force through the dedicated tollfree hotline or email address.
Last month, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro had confirmed the Beaver County facility is one of several nursing homes his office was investigating for criminal neglect during the COVID- 19 crisis.
He called conditions at the center “deeply troubling.” Brighton had the worst outbreak of COVID- 19 of any nursing home in the state, with 332 of the facility’s residents testing positive since the end of March and at least 82 of them dying.
His office did not comment about the search Thursday other than to confirm its personnel participated.
The owner, Comprehensive Healthcare Management, issued a one- line email response to questions Thursday about the search warrants: “We are unable to comment on any ongoing government actions.”
Asked for comment about Thursday’s actions, U. S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s office said in a statement he “previously requested that federal regulators examine the handling of the outbreak at Brighton. He has full confidence that U. S. Attorney Scott Brady will lead a fair and thorough investigation.”
Given the state attorney general’s ongoing criminal investigation at Brighton for its conduct during the pandemic, it may not seem unusual for the U. S. attorney’s office and federal agencies to join the investigation.
But why federal authorities also served a warrant at the Mt. Lebanon nursing home is less clear.
Based on state data, the facility does not appear to have had anywhere near a similar outbreak of COVID19 infections among its residents or staff. In addition, Mt. Lebanon does not appear to be a regional office of any sort for Comprehensive Healthcare, which owns both nursing homes.
Mt. Lebanon also has not had the kind of harsh inspection reports during the pandemic that Brighton has in the last four months, including being fined $ 62,000 by the federal government for violations found during one inspection. The state did find some infection prevention deficiencies at Mt. Lebanon during a July 17 inspection there.
Mt. Lebanon reported in the state’s Aug. 31 data it recently had at least one and maybe as many as four resident deaths from COVID- 19 for the first time during the pandemic.
But that same Aug. 31 state report shows Mt. Lebanon self- reported it had zero positive cases among its 89 residents and zero positive cases among its roughly 56 full- time employees.
In the state’s Aug. 10 data report on nursing home cases, Mt. Lebanon reported its first positive cases among its residents, with six. In the next week’s report, on Aug. 17, it reported there were 12 cases among residents and at least one and as many as four among its staff. But the facility did not report any data in the state’s Aug. 24 report.
In the last month, that same state report shows the 121- bed facility had seen its resident population drop from 107 residents on Aug. 4 to just 89 on Aug. 31.
Comprehensive Healthcare bought Brighton from Beaver County in 2016 for $ 37.5 million. It bought the Mt. Lebanon facility in 2017 from the Golden Living Center nursing home chain, which was sued in 2015 by the state attorney general’s office on a claim of providing deficient care and misleading its customers about its operations, including at the Mt. Lebanon facility.
Golden Living sold its Pennsylvania nursing homes after that lawsuit, which is ongoing, was filed. But Golden Living continued to own the land on which the nursing homes are built.
Both Mr. Brady and Mr. Shapiro have sought to generate more leads for investigators by asking for anyone with information to come forward. Mr. Brady did so again Thursday after the raids, asking those with information to contact the Western Pennsylvania COVID- 19 Fraud Task Force’s Toll Free Hotline at 1888- C19- WDPA ( 1- 888- 2199372). Those who prefer email can contact the task force online at usapaw. covid19@ usdoj. gov.