Brighton Rehab no stranger to federal, state scrutiny for resident care

Story by DEB ERDLEY and NATASHA LINDSTROM
Tribune-Review

Dec. 30, 2021

When convicted sex offender Richard Marlin Walter assaulted a 57-year-old dementia patient at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center last December, it was not the first time trouble surfaced at the Beaver County nursing home.

In 2020, the 589-bed facility became the epicenter of one of the nation’s deadliest outbreaks of covid-19 when 83 patients and staff died and more than 500 were sickened.

An August 2020 Tribune-Review investigation showed that prior to the outbreak, the facility racked up three years of state and federal inspection reports showing serious infection control, management and patient care deficiencies, including a failure to separate coronavirus-infected patients from healthy patients . The facility also came under fire by inspectors for failing to obtain state approval before administering a controversial drug — hydroxychloroquine — to 205 patients despite its known side effects that include irregular heart rhythm, low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage, state records showed.

Shortly after that report was published, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro vowed to investigate what led to the deaths at the facility. No findings from that probe have been revealed.

Not long after, FBI agents arrived at the nursing home to seize documents and other evidence. Still later, a federal grand jury was convened to investigate the facility and its parent company, the Tribune-Review learned.

As part of that ongoing federal probe of Brighton and other facilities owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services, the grand jury earlier this year indicted the former administrator at the company’s Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.

Susan Gilbert, 60, of Cecil is awaiting trial on charges she directed staff members to keep two separate sets of books — one that showed the actual, inadequate staffing levels at the facility and one that inflated the numbers to meet federal requirements, according to the indictment.

In 2021, new troubles have surfaced at Brighton, some stemming from the fallout of the facility’s policy that permits sex offenders — including those deemed sexually violent predators — to be admitted.

Among the issues facing Brighton are:

• On Jan. 15, 2021, state health department inspectors noted the assault on the dementia patient when they cited Brighton for failing to create a plan to protect patients from a known sex offender, state records indicate.

• Federal regulators fined Brighton $186,375 for its failure to protect patients “from abuse and neglect” from Dec. 24, 2020, to March 8, 2021, which includes the date of the assault by Walter, records show. In levying that fine, regulators referred to earlier findings by state inspectors regarding sex offenders at the site.

• For more than 14 months, Brighton has been on a list of 100 nursing homes nationwide under intense monitoring by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid — which oversees nursing homes — due to continuing deficiencies that put the health and safety of patients in jeopardy, records indicate.

• Brighton also occupies a spot on a small subset of facilities failing to show any improvement, according to federal records. The ultimate sanction for those that don’t improve — barring them from receiving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that make up the bulk of revenue for most nursing homes — is rarely invoked, according to records.

Brighton Rehabilitation administrator David Ferraro declined requests to be interviewed for this story.

In addition, Benjamin Kurland, CEO of Allaire Health Services, the company appointed last year by the state health department to temporarily manage Brighton, would not agree to an interview regarding his company’s procedures for admitting sex offenders or steps that are taken to protect other patients from those offenders. He deferred to state health department officials, who also declined to comment.

After Walter’s death in early November, Brighton continued to house six sex offenders, state records show.

Walter’s public defender, William Braslawsce, said he does not understand why his client was sent to Brighton if officials there could not ensure that adequate staff and other resources could be devoted to monitoring Walter and the victim, who he said was inclined to wander the halls of the unit where they both resided.

Facilities in the region owned by Brighton’s parent company house 15 of the 68 convicted sex offenders in Western Pennsylvania facilities, just under 22% of all offenders living in the region’s care homes, a review of the state’s Megan’s Law database showed.

A review of 14 Comprehensive Healthcare Management facilities in Western Pennsylvania showed that in addition to the six sex offenders at Brighton, there was one each at The Grove at Latrobe, The Grove at Irwin, The Grove at New Wilmington and The Grove at New Castle; three at Cheswick Rehabilitation and Wellness; and two at South Hills Rehabilitation and Wellness. Their convictions range from possession of child pornography to rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, records indicate.

Administrators at those facilities housing offenders would not comment.

For more than a year, Ephram “Mordy” Lahasky, one of the founders and owners of Comprehensive Healthcare Management has refused to comment about his burgeoning network of care facilities.

In 2020, a Trib reporter traveled to New York, where she attempted to speak with Lahasky at his home and office, but was turned away. Lahasky also did not respond to recent phone calls and emails requesting comment.

In addition to 48 Pennsylvania facilities, Lahasky’s company operates more than 120 others nationwide functioning under a variety of names.

And even while probes of Brighton are underway, Lahasky and his investors continue to acquire additional properties, records show.

• State lawmakers vow to better protect care home residents from convicted sex offenders

• Brighton Rehab no stranger to federal, state scrutiny for resident care

• When there’s no room at nursing facilities, convicted sex offenders often land in unregulated boarding homes

• No central registry in Pennsylvania tracks convicted sex offenders placed in nursing care facilities

• How the story was reported