Just weeks after KBWB-Atrium and its former Chief Executive Officer Kevin Breslin “pleaded guilty [in Wisconsin] to one count of health care fraud and one count of tax conspiracy related to the operation of numerous skilled nursing facilities” (for allegedly diverting public reimbursement to the owners, failing to provide residents with appropriate care, failing to pay vendors, and failing to pay employment taxes to the IRS), the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller suspended Breslin and his four New Jersey nursing facilities from the New Jersey Medicaid program, effective May 7, 2025. The State Comptroller also moved to disqualify Breslin and the four nursing facilities from New Jersey’s Medicaid program.
The New Jersey Comptroller has previously suspended the worst facility in the state, taken similar action against other nursing facilities, and issued reports in February 2022, September 2022, and March 2023, recommending that the state impose stronger sanctions, that nursing facilities be barred from Medicaid if they fail to improve, and that owners of these facilities be barred from Medicaid in the future.
The State Comptroller’s prompt action is a model for other states. Owners and operators that fail to use reimbursement for resident care and divert excessive amounts of reimbursement to private profit should be prohibited from operating any facilities. Barring the poorest quality operators from any facilities would go a long way to improving resident care.
February 20, 2025 – T. Edelman