PITTSBURGH – The former administrator of a Mount Lebanon skilled nursing home has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, health care fraud and obstruction of a federal audit, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced today.
The three-count Indictment, returned on February 24, 2021, named Susan Gilbert, age 60, of Lawrence, Pennsylvania, as the sole defendant.
“These criminal charges represent the first step in holding accountable those who put profit over the health and safety of seniors,” said U.S. Attorney Brady. “From 2018-2020, Gilbert and co-conspirators deprived seniors of patient care using inflated nursing hours, falsified timecards and other schemes that they concealed with two sets of records. We will continue to pursue every lead until justice has been achieved for seniors and their families in western Pennsylvania.”
“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.”
According to the Indictment, from October 10, 2018 through February 20, 2020, Gilbert conspired with others to defraud the United States 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; and committed health care fraud and the obstruction of a federal auditor. The Indictment alleges that Gilbert was the Administrator of a skilled nursing home, Mount Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (MLRWC), located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The Indictment further alleges that Gilbert and/or other co-conspirators directed employees of MLRWC to falsify records to give the appearance that the facility met federal and state staffing requirements. MLRWC is part of an ownership structure that owns multiple long-term care facilities in Pennsylvania, including Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center. ….
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