The former CEO of Rockport Healthcare Services, which manages Brius’s nursing homes, told the New York Times that internal orders were given at some Brius facilities to illegally evict the “least profitable patients” in order to replace them with higher-paying patients who have COVID-19.

The article, entitled “‘They Just Dumped Him Like Trash’: Nursing Homes Evict Vulnerable Residents,” cites an internal email from a Rockport executive that apparently was leaked to a journalist. Dr. Michael Wasserman, who served as the CEO of Rockport until 2018, interprets the email for the Times.

In California, Rockport Healthcare Services, which manages the state’s largest chain of for-profit nursing homes, has repeatedly been cited by state regulators for illegal evictions.

On March 31, with Covid-19 cases soaring, a Rockport executive wrote in an email to colleagues that they should begin “discharge planning immediately,” noting that any discharges should be done safely.

Dr. Michael Wasserman, who was the chief executive of Rockport until 2018, said that was code to kick out the least-lucrative residents. “You are looking to replace the poorest, least profitable patients with the highest paying ones,” said Dr. Wasserman, who resigned after clashing with the chain’s owner.

This spring, Los Angeles County designated three of Rockport’s nursing homes as preferred destinations for Covid-19 patients. Since then, one of them has tried unsuccessfully to evict at least two residents against their will, according to a lawyer who was contacted by the residents’ families.

David Silver, the chief executive of Rockport, said the company was trying to be a good partner to the state by making room for an expected surge of Covid-19 patients. “This has absolutely nothing to do with money,” he said. He declined to comment on individual residents, citing confidentiality.