Editorial: Nursing home fraud crimes aren't just about money

When looking for a nursing home, there are a number of things to consider.

You can look to online reviews. You can consider recommendations from hospitals or doctors. You can visit websites that specifically help you find the right facility to treat medical, mental or emotional needs.

But the one thing most people don’t consider is a long term care center’s criminal record.

That’s a mistake.

People tend to think about the criminal past of the employees. Has this nurse been accused of abuse? Has this orderly been convicted of theft?

Yes, those caregivers do need to have thorough and serious background checks because of their hands-on contact with vulnerable elderly or ill individuals. But what one person can do is limited.

The reach of the nursing home itself or a company that operates multiple facilities over a large area can foster so much more damage.

On Tuesday, federal charges were unveiled against a list of people connected to Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC.

Comprehensive Healthcare Management is the parent of Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County and Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center. Both nursing homes have been under fire for their institutional failings for years. Brighton Rehab became the poster child for bad management during the early days of the covid-19 pandemic as more than 300 staff members and residents were infected. More than 70 died.

But that wasn’t criminal — or was it? While U.S. Attorney Cindy K. Chung said there were “no allegations related to covid or covid deaths,” that doesn’t mean the overall issue of patient safety isn’t part of it.

The superseding indictment returned Friday lists charges against seven defendants, including Comprehensive Healthcare’s CEO and owner Sam Halper, 39, of Miami Beach, Fla.; Brighton Director of Nursing, Eva Hamilton, 35, of Beaver; a regional nursing manager, Michelle Romeo, 46, of Hillsville; and Director of Social Services Johnna Haller, 41 of Monaca. Mt. Lebanon Rehab’s former administrator, Susan Gilbert, 61, of Cecil, was indicted in February 2021.

The charges relate to what the federal government oversees in these cases: the money.

The accusations are about fraud, obstruction of a federal audit and conspiracy to commit those crimes. However, the prosecution’s narrative about how that occurred speaks to more than a monetary crime. The story told is one of lying about how many nursing staff members were on the job to justify the reimbursements from and requirements of Medicare and Medicaid.

This is just the beginning of these criminal cases. No one has been found guilty or entered a plea. Resolution is months if not years away.

Despite no abuse or neglect charges being included, the impact of the accusations on the lives of patients cannot be ignored.

Prosecuting nursing homes is not common. They are more likely to be fined by the state or federal government. They tend to get warnings or have their licenses placed in a provisional status.

But it isn’t unheard of. In January, Joseph Schwartz, former owner of a national string of nursing homes, was arrested for a list of federal labor crimes on top of similar fraud charges in the states some of the 95 homes operated. In June, the owner of several Louisiana facilities was arrested for charges including Medicaid fraud and obstruction.

When our most vulnerable are at risk, the greatest penalty can’t be a ticket or a timeout. It has to be open and public and out there for the next patient’s family to find.