Federal grand jury investigating Brighton Rehab in Beaver County
A federal grand jury is investigating Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center and its corporate ownership, the Tribune-Review has confirmed.
The privately owned Beaver County nursing home is the site of one of the nation’s deadliest covid-19 outbreaks and continues to confront legal challenges on multiple fronts. At least 76 Brighton Rehab residents and a housekeeper died of covid-19, and more than 300 staff and residents have been infected since late March, state records show.
On Tuesday, the state, on behalf of Beaver County Office of Aging, filed a motion to quash a subpoena it had received from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to testify or produce documents about Brighton Rehab.
According to the filing, the agency received the subpoena, issued by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gal-Or, on Dec. 30. It directs the agency, the motion said, to “produce ‘Records associated with any complaints or investigations into problems at the following entities: Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (BRWC) and Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services (CHMS).’”
Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC is the corporate umbrella group formed to purchase Brighton Rehab and dozens of other nursing homes across the state and nationwide.
Responsive records, the filing continued, include any complaints or investigations, as well as the associated findings of those and any “communications with the above entities.”
On Wednesday, Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Western Pennsylvania, declined to comment on the existence of any grand jury investigation.
In September, the FBI served search warrants at Brighton Rehab and Mount Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, which share some of the same owners.
U.S. Attorney Scott Brady confirmed at the time the warrants were served in collaboration with the Health and Human Services division of the Office of Inspector General, the criminal investigation unit at the IRS and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services conducted its own investigation of Brighton Rehab and sent investigators to the facility in May. The results of that investigation have not been made public.
RELATED: U.S. Health Secretary says feds investigating Brighton nursing home coronavirus outbreak
In July, a state health department report concluded Brighton Rehab had dispensed hydroxychloroquine to at least 205 residents without required approvals. The drug, used to treat malaria, was the center of controversy in the spring over whether it was effective in treating the novel coronavirus and because it poses serious risks for people with heart problems.
Among other allegations supported by Department of Health inspection reports are that Brighton Rehab failed to follow proper covid-19 safety and infection control procedures, including not separating sick residents from healthy ones and staffers not washing their hands between working with residents.
In the motion filed Tuesday to quash the subpoena, attorney Deborah Hargett-Robinson, representing the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, wrote that the Beaver County agency is not authorized to release the records being requested by federal prosecutors without a court order.
According to the Older Adult Protective Services Act, “Information contained in reports, records of investigation, client assessment and service plans shall be considered confidential and shall be maintained under regulations promulgated by the department to safeguard confidentiality. Except as … [otherwise provided by the Act] … this information shall not be disclosed to anyone outside the agency other than to a court of competent jurisdiction or pursuant to a court order.”
The motion alleges the requested documents do not meet any of the exemptions provided for in the statute.
Nathan Morgan, deputy Beaver County solicitor, said the motion to quash is just procedural.
“To the extent the Beaver County Office on Aging is asked or required to turn over documents related to Brighton, the office intends to fully cooperate,” he said. “There are certain statutory protections for sensitive documents that we are obligated to follow.”
A message left with Brighton’s attorney was not returned.
Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Saint Vincent College in Unity, said there’s no doubt that what’s being investigated through the federal grand jury is a criminal matter.
“You don’t serve a search warrant to investigate civil matters,” he said.
But, he continued, “It is extremely hard to speculate on what they may be looking at.
“It could take a lot of different directions.”
Health and Human Services’ division of the Office of Inspector General is responsible for investigating Medicare fraud, Antkowiak said, while the IRS investigates tax allegations.
Although, the agency often is brought in to help review financial documents in other types of cases, as well.
RELATED: Brighton Rehab claims it is immune from lawsuit in federal court filing
A Tribune-Review investigation into Brighton Rehab, published Aug. 9, recounted a litany of infection control and other deficiencies and violations that happened during the pandemic, as well as others that have persisted for years. The Trib found those problems were exacerbated by a lack of communication, transparency and oversight from hard-to-find owners and by ongoing attempts to silence nursing home employees as well as residents and their family members from voicing concerns.
Three days later, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro confirmed his office had launched a criminal investigation into Brighton Rehab, saying he was “deeply troubled” by reports of conditions and practices at the nursing home. Shapiro’s office, which includes a Medicaid Fraud unit, could notimmediately be reached for comment.
In October, the families of 10 residents who died and five residents still living at Brighton Rehab sued the nursing home’s leaders for not only a “reckless” handling of the pandemic, but accusations of “managerial and operational negligence” and substandard care that violated state and federal rules prior to the pandemic. That civil case is awaiting a decision on whether it should be heard in Beaver County or federal court.
“We anticipate a decision on the jurisdictional issue in the near future, but regardless of where the cases are ultimately litigated, we look forward to continuing to fight for the justice our clients in these cases deserve,” Bob Daley, attorney for Brighton Rehab clients, said by email Wednesday.
Comprehensive Healthcare Management ownership is split among 11 entities — seven individuals, mostly from New York and one from Pittsburgh, and four more LLCs. When the owners bought the Friendship Ridge nursing home from the county and renamed it Brighton, they created a separate corporation, Comprehensive Healthcare Management Property LLC, to own the real estate of Brighton’s buildings and 20-acre campus.
Like many nursing homes, the majority of Brighton Rehab nursing home’s revenue comes from taxpayer money in the form of Medicaid and Medicare payments.
Federal authorities in Pittsburgh have asked anyone with information related to “suspected fraud, abuse or victimization related to long-term care facilities” and the covid-19 pandemic to file a report with the Western Pennsylvania COVID-19 Fraud Task Force.
Reports can be filed by calling 1-888-219-9372 or emailing usapaw.covid19@usdoj.gov.
Paula Reed Ward and Natasha Lindstrom are Tribune-Review staff writers. You can contact Paula at pward@triblive.com and Natasha at nlindstrom@triblive.com.
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