State Rep. Rob Matzie, D-Ambridge, introduced legislation intended to compel the state health department to bolster inspections and transparency at long-term care facilities. (Sean Stipp | Tribune-Review)
Aug. 9, 2020
By Jamie Martines and Natasha Lindstrom
A knock on the door at two Long Island addresses listed for the owners of Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center did nothing to lift a veil of silence surrounding the company since 73 patients and a housekeeper at the Beaver County nursing home died earlier this year.
The reporter who visited those locations was denied interviews — the same response she repeatedly received during a two-month Tribune-Review investigation into the circumstances surrounding one of the deadliest covid-19 outbreaks in a nursing home nationwide.
Pennsylvania court records and New York business registration records show addresses for Brighton’s owner, Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services, in the villages of Lynbrook and Lawrence, both in New York’s Nassau County.
At the Lynbrook office building, a reporter was told a new company had taken over the space. That company, Superior Healthcare Management, runs 11 long-term care facilities in Minnesota. Stakeholders in Brighton also are listed as investors or officers in the Minnesota facilities, according to federal records.
At the Lawrence address — a private residence that court records list for Brighton partner Ephram Lahasky — the reporter was told that no one was available to talk.
Notes left at both locations requesting interviews appeared to get into the right hands, but a public relations representative told the Trib that no interviews would be granted.
Beaver County officials said that since the county sold the facility to Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services six years ago for $37.5 million, it’s been difficult to determine who’s making decisions regarding the site.
County Commissioner Jack Manning started serving as the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce president and executive director just after the facility — known as Friendship Ridge when it was county-owned — was sold in 2014. Manning was not a commissioner at the time of the sale.
Brighton joined the chamber, but it was apparent its business model was different from other local nursing homes, Manning said.
He said local officials were well acquainted with managers when it was county-owned. There was little communication with the new owners.
“Never saw the owners,” said Manning, who served as chamber president from 2015-19. “We never really knew the decision makers at Brighton Rehab. I didn’t know what to make of it, other than I was concerned because they are the largest. And they are handling the most difficult cases. Quite frankly, that is the place of last resort depending on your means to be housed if you have significant issues.”
Like many nursing homes across the country, Brighton is owned and managed by a web of companies and stakeholders. Many of those involved with Brighton are based outside of Pennsylvania, according to records from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates these facilities.
Several of Brighton’s stakeholders also are involved with dozens of nursing homes nationwide, along with a tangle of businesses that provide ancillary services — including property and payroll management — to nursing homes, a review of business registration and court records from several states shows.
“You frequently see these types of situations in the nursing facility world where a whole plethora of entities are involved in the ownership chain,” said Eric Carlson, directing attorney with Justice In Aging, a legal advocacy group.
“You’ll see one company holding a license and another entity holding the property. You see management companies and a variety of corporations owning corporations, for lack of a better term. And it’s oftentimes extremely difficult to identify a person or people who are the ultimate owners and financial beneficiaries of the structure.”
The sale of Brighton was aimed at easing the county’s financial burden. The nursing home had been losing money for a decade. The deal also put the property back on the tax rolls for the county and Beaver Area School District.
Beaver County Commissioner Tony Amadio was the only one of the current commissioners in office during the sale. He did not respond to repeated requests for interviews.
State Rep. Rob Matzie, D-Ambridge, said his office was bombarded with callers concerned about Brighton soon after the first covid-19 case was confirmed there on March 25.
Matzie alerted top health department officials, fellow lawmakers and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has since initiated investigations into nursing homes during the pandemic but has released no details.
“I kept saying that we need troops on the ground,” Matzie said. “Residents, families and the community at large don’t trust that this facility is doing what they told us they would do and (that they) are telling the truth. That’s what’s so disheartening — the red flags were there, and actions were not taken. Someone is going to have to answer for that.”
Manning and County Commissioner Daniel C. Camp said the only recent contact they’ve had with the Brighton ownership was during a brief phone call early in the pandemic.
A company representative told commissioners that “they were unfortunate with this facility because it is so big and it (the virus) spreads so quickly,” Camp said.
Camp and Manning could not recall the name of the Brighton representative who spoke at the meeting.
A public relations firm representing Brighton would not confirm who attended that meeting but issued a generic statement signed by Brighton Facility Management.
“We understood from the onset of this crisis that covid-19 would be a challenge in our community given how vulnerable our residents are, and we called upon government officials as well as the National Guard to provide additional support as early as mid-March,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, a representative of the union representing about 300 of the 400 Brighton workers said, even while the crisis was unfolding, too many providers were still “chasing the bottom line.”
Matthew Yarnell, president of Service Employees International Union Healthcare PA, also said the state health department has been working for years rewriting long-term regulations that haven’t changed in three decades.
Change must come in terms of transparency at these facilities, including who the owners are and their commitments to investing in top-notch care, Yarnell said.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. This pandemic’s not going away,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot, and we should do our best to prevent another massive outbreak in our nursing homes and communities.”
Jamie Martines and Natasha Lindstrom are Tribune-Review staff writers. You can contact Jamie at 724-850-2867, jmartines@triblive.com or via Twitter @Jamie_Martines. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@triblive.com or via Twitter @NewsNatasha.
Options for reporting issues at nursing homes include:
• Pennsylvania Department of Health: Call 800-254-5164, email c-ncomplai@pa.gov or use the online complaint form on the department’s website. Complaints can be kept anonymous.
• State Attorney General’s Office: To report neglect or possible criminal allegations, email neglect-COVID@attorneygeneral.gov or call 717-787-3391 and ask for the Medicaid Fraud Control Section.
• Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program: Call 717-783-8975 or email LTC-ombudsman@pa.gov.
For emergencies involving immediate danger, call 911 or 877-72-432584 (877-PA-HEALTH).
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