Official Site of The State of New Jersey

TRENTON—The Office of the State Comptroller announced today that the owners of four skilled nursing facilities will be suspended from New Jersey Medicaid, effective May 7, 2025.

In a letter dated February 6, OSC notified the Little Falls, NJ-based KBWB Operations, doing business as Atrium Health and Senior Living, former CEO Kevin Breslin, and the other owners of KBWB Operations, that they and their four facilities would be barred from providing services to Medicaid beneficiaries and from receiving any New Jersey Medicaid funds, effective in 90 days. OSC also moved to disqualify these same parties from the Medicaid program. OSC took these actions due to the fact that Breslin and KBWB-Atrium pleaded guilty to federal healthcare fraud and tax conspiracy charges in connection with an alleged scheme in which they diverted millions in Medicaid and Medicare funds away from Wisconsin facilities for personal purposes.

The four facilities—Avalon Rehab and Care Center in Wayne, Atrium Post Acute Care of Wayne, Atrium Senior Living of Park Ridge, and Atrium Post Acute Care of Park Ridge—will no longer be able to provide services to Medicaid beneficiaries or receive Medicaid funds as long as KBWB-Atrium and Kevin Breslin are the owners. Aside from Breslin, the other owners who received suspension notices are William G. Burris, Jr., William G. Burris III, Mary Theresa Khawly, Elia Zois, and Vincent Tufariello.

This marks the latest action by OSC to remove nursing home owners from Medicaid, due to evidence of fraud and/or irresponsible management. Over the course of approximately 12 months, OSC has taken action against the owners and administrators of seven other nursing homes in New Jersey, including the owners of New Jersey’s worst-rated nursing home, South Jersey Extended Care (SJEC). A December 2024 report by OSC found that SJEC’s owners and operators improperly funneled millions of dollars of Medicaid funds out of the nursing home into their own businesses and personal charities, leaving residents to live in a dismal, understaffed, and under-resourced facility.

"Again and again, we are seeing owners and operators of Medicaid-funded nursing homes in New Jersey engaging in massive fraud. That’s causing real harm to the vulnerable residents who rely on Medicaid. The fraud is also wasting taxpayer dollars," said Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. "This is a systemic problem, and it needs to be treated as one.”

Noting systemic weaknesses in oversight of Medicaid-funded nursing homes, OSC’s SJEC report in December made several recommendations to the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Legislature in order to protect the integrity of Medicaid.

Breslin and the corporate entity are due to be sentenced in May. The owners have a right to challenge their suspension and disqualification from Medicaid.

KBWB-Atrium operated and owned dozens of nursing facilities in New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Michigan. According to the indictment, the New Jersey-based Atrium used Medicare and Medicaid funds to make “guaranteed” payments to the Atrium owners, regardless of the 23 Wisconsin facilities’ needs and financial situations. As a result, residents of the Wisconsin facilities lacked needed supplies, vendors were unpaid, and Atrium withheld taxes from Wisconsin staffers’ paychecks without paying the money to the Internal Revenue Service.

At one time, Breslin and KBWB operated about a dozen facilities in New Jersey. The four New Jersey facilities currently owned by KBWB-Atrium may continue to remain in the Medicaid program if the current owners entirely disassociate from these facilities—meaning they divest ownership or the facilities are placed under the control of a receiver or other independent party so that the suspended individuals have no access to or authority over Medicaid funds. OSC has kept the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman informed so that they can be prepared to take actions to protect the residents.

Sign up for our newsletter.

To report government fraud, waste, mismanagement, or corruption, file a complaint with OSC or call 1-855-OSC-TIPS.