Editor’s Note: The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has released the following statement about the progress of what it calls its “Brighton Nursing Home Investigation.” The statement is being published below in full as submitted to BeaverCountian.com.
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and U.S. Attorney Scott Brady today announced that the former administrator of Mount Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, a sister nursing home to Brighton, has been indicted on federal charges. The charges are the result of a joint investigation in the federal grand jury, which alleges that the administrator directed employees to falsify records to give the appearance that the facility met federal and state staffing requirements. The administrator, Susan Gilbert, 60, is being charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, health care fraud, and obstruction of a federal audit. This investigation is ongoing.
“These crimes put facility residents at risk by only providing a dangerously low amount of nursing staff just before COVID began to surge across the country,” said AG Shapiro. “By filing these false reports, the facility met minimum staffing levels only on paper — while Pennsylvanians who depended on them to care for their well-being didn’t have enough people to turn to. Our ongoing investigation will hold nursing and long-term care facilities criminally accountable wherever we find evidence someone neglected a resident. If you have information about a potential crime, contact my office at neglect-COVID@attorneygeneral.gov.”
According to the indictment, from October 10, 2018 through February 20, 2020, Gilbert conspired with others to defraud Pennsylvania of money and property by impeding, impairing, obstructing, defeating, and interfering with the lawful governmental functions of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in the administration of Medicare and Pennsylvania Medicaid; committed health care fraud; and obstructed a federal auditor.
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