D.C. Nursing Home Company Asked To Return $2M

D.C. Council member David Catania is calling on the management company of several District-owned nursing homes to return nearly $2 million to the city.

Last year, the D.C. Inspector General released an audit of Vital Management Team or VMT. It found that the company — which runs two nursing homes in the district — used $2 million in District funds to pay off a settlement with the federal government. According to the audit, the money was taken out of joint bank accounts between VMT and the District, and these side accounts contained more than $18 million and were outside the financial controls of the District's Office on Aging.

At a council hearing on the IG report today, Catania criticized VMT, saying that in the federal contracting system, a company would be disbarred if it used government funds to pay a government settlement.

"The permissiveness in which we allow ourselves to be used in the District government and the unbelievable, consistent, and almost nauseating entitlement of this company has reached its end," said Catania.

Management at VMT disputes the Inspector General's report and its characterization of what the money was spent on. Catania says if VMT does not pay back the funds, the city will stop doing business with the management company.

The case right now is before the Contract Appeals Board.