Companies that operate 2 area nursing homes ordered to pay $15M in restitution
Companies operating two Pittsburgh-area nursing homes have been ordered to pay $15 million in restitution.
This restitution order from the Department of Justice for Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services and Mt. Lebanon Operations stems from 2023 convictions of making false statements in connection with the payment of health care benefits and for the purpose of obstructing and impeding the investigation.
Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services, which ran Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness, was ordered to pay over $12.6 million and serve five years of probation. Mt. Lebanon Operations, which ran Mount Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, will pay over $1.7 million and serve one year of probation.
'Families counted on these facilities and their operators to care for their loved ones with honesty, integrity, and compassion. Instead, these facilities put profits over people,' said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek in a news release. 'Nursing home operators who lie to the government agencies providing oversight and keeping watch endangers lives and erodes public trust. These facilities failed their residents, and today's outcome is a step toward justice.'
Before sentencing, the judge heard testimony and received impact statements from family members of former residents of the facilities. Those family members describe staffing declines that negatively impacted care, treatment and hygiene of residents.
When he imposed the sentence, the judge called the defendants' actions 'a tragic set of events' that impacted many lives through the loss of care and resulted in the government and taxpayers being defrauded.
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