Auditor general: Brighton Rehab refused to let state watchdog examine the nursing home’s finances
Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center blocked the state’s chief fiscal watchdog from examining the Beaver County nursing home’s financial records earlier this year, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said .
DePasquale disclosed Brighton Rehab’s refusal to cooperate — or even take an initial meeting to discuss the possibility of cooperating — a week after Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced his office is investigating the nursing home for possible criminal wrongdoing related to its response to the covid-19 pandemic and other complaints.
The auditor general wanted to be sure Shapiro knew of the failed audit attempt, DePasquale spokesman Barry Ciccocioppo said by phone.
“I’d still like to audit Brighton and I’m very disappointed that they did not comply, but my audit team will not undertake this review while a state investigation is ongoing,” DePasquale said in a statement.
Brighton Rehab responded to DePasquale by saying the nursing home’s leaders “believed that on June 10, 2020, the Auditor General canceled the proposed financial review of limited historical records out of concern for human life.”
“We were told verbally and in writing that, ‘The Department’s action (was) based on the current circumstances as a result of the covid impact at Brighton,’ ” said a statement attributed to “Brighton Facility Management.”
“It would surprise us to learn that the Auditor General was not aware of his department’s stated reasoning, or that he was not personally involved in the attempt to ensure that Brighton be permitted to keep all of its focus on caring for sick residents, preventing viral transmission and protecting the health safety and welfare of our frontline heroes in the midst of a full-blown unprecedented viral pandemic.”
At least 73 residents at Brighton Rehab have died of covid-19. More than 300 residents and staff became infected there from March through June.
That made the outbreak at Brighton Rehab among the deadliest in the United States.
But the first coronavirus case wasn’t reported there until March 26.
DePasquale’s office first made a request to audit Brighton Rehab — along with nine other nursing homes around the state — back in February, prior to the pandemic’s arrival in Pennsylvania, Ciccocioppo said. The office made contact multiple times with Brighton officials, he said, but they repeatedly refused to discuss the potential audit.
“Certainly, bringing potentially positive people into the facility, or creating any additional non-essential demands would not have been prudent at that time,” Brighton facility management said in their statement sent by email Friday afternoon.
In response, Ciccocioppo told the Trib by email Friday night, “We stand by our earlier statement and note that our team was able to complete audits of the other facilities during the same time period without in-person visits.”
Brighton Rehab was the only nursing home of the 10 targeted that shirked the audit, which was authorized by Act 42, a 2018 state law aimed at enhancing oversight of health care-related entities.
The goal was to review financial records and check to ensure that the mostly taxpayer-sourced funding is being spent how it should be, per federal rules.
Brighton Rehab has a budget of about $69.5 million and ended 2018 with $2.2 million in net income, according to the latest records filed with the state Department of Human Services. About 16% of Brighton Rehab’s revenues come from Medicare payments and 67% from Medicaid.
“My audit was planned to ensure that Medicaid patients receive the services for which the state is billed by direct care providers,” DePasquale said.
Nine other nursing homes complied, and five of those audits were completed and posted to the Auditor General’s website in June. None had findings of an egregious nature, Ciccocioppo said.
DePasquale’s announcement marks the latest of several oversight efforts and probes into Brighton Rehab.
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 unchecked. 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 told the Trib that his office had launched a criminal investigation into Brighton Rehab, saying he was “deeply troubled” by reports of poor conditions and practices at the nursing home in Beaver County, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section also is looking into several other nursing homes around the state that have not yet been disclosed.
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, recently called for a separate investigation into how the Pennsylvania Department of Health oversaw the Brighton Rehab facility during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also conducted its own investigation of Brighton Rehab and sent investigators to the facility in May. The results of that investigation have not yet been made public.
RELATED: U.S. Health Secretary says feds investigating Brighton nursing home coronavirus outbreak
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