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Trilogy Health Services said it is welcoming a review of its COVID-19 data after federal regulators announced plans to audit the operators’ information after the company cut its nursing home pandemic death toll by 42%. 

“The health and safety of our residents has always been our top priority. We have also placed an emphasis on transparency throughout this historic pandemic,” Leigh Ann Barney, president and CEO ofTrilogy Health Services, told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Friday. 

“We welcome any review of our updated data as it has been audited by an independent third-party to ensure accuracy and compliance with [National Healthcare Safety Network] reporting guidelines,” Barney added. “We encourage all submissions be similarly reviewed so that the database accurately reflects the true impact of COVID on the nation’s nursing homes.” 

Barney’s comments were in response to a USA Today report that revealed the change in the company’s data. The news organization in early March published a highly critical nursing home investigation that highlighted surge from October 2020 through February 2021, when about 71,000 nursing home residents died from COVID-19. 

The investigation also found that Trilogy had the largest COVID-19 death toll among the nation’s 10 largest chains during the time period, with 772 deaths at 113 facilities.

The report detailed that the company recently eliminated 325 deaths from its calculations, dropping its rate from the highest to the third-highest among large provider chains. Trilogy officials said the figure was revised after the company discovered that some deaths were incorrectly included in weekly reports, according to the news report.

The company also said it plans to submit another revision “dozens more weeks beyond those analyzed in USA Today’s investigation,” according to the outlet. 

Numerous industry watchers were critical of the revisions, with Harvard Professor David Grabowski, Ph.D., calling the move “suspicious.” 

“Either they are admitting they submitted bad data or they are going back and altering the data to make themselves look better,” Grabowski told USA Today. “I don’t like either of those outcomes and both of them speak to the need for increased oversight and accountability.”

The changes in Trilogy’s data were also called “concerning” by Lee Fleisher, MD, chief medical officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Federal regulators plan to review the updated information, according to the report.

“CMS takes reports of data inaccuracy very seriously and will hold any bad actors accountable,” he added.