(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17) sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to request an immediate investigation into the competence and performance of the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center’s management.  Additionally, the letter requests CMS determine whether the residents of Brighton are being well protected, and whether additional personnel from federal agencies or the National Guard, or access to more personal protective equipment and testing supplies would help Brighton better contain the outbreak of COVID-19.

 “The dangers posed by COVID-19 are bad enough,” Lamb wrote.  “It is simply unacceptable that the threat to the residents of Brighton was made worse by lax oversight, especially after more than 60 members of this community had died.  If those deaths did not convince either the temporary manager or the Brighton management to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward severe mistakes, then something needs to change at Brighton, and it needs to change right away.”

 Earlier this week, Lamb was joined by Representative Mike Doyle in a letter to CMS urging additional oversight of nursing homes and senior care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Lamb also advocated for additional protections for seniors in an April 15 letter calling for the Department of Health and Human Services and CMS to collect and publicly report facility-level data on the number of long-term care residents affected by the COVID-19.  On May 4, Lamb joined with other Members of Congress to request that a portion of the $25 billion emergency funding appropriated by Congress in the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act be allocated to states specifically for the development, purchase, administration, or provision of COVID-19 diagnostic tests for long-term care facilities.