Failure by a nursing home to protect residents from the misappropriation and exploitation of their personal finances by staff may result in the submission of false claims and charges of fraud.
Compliance Perspective – Stealing Money
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator will review policies and procedures designed to prevent misappropriation and exploitation of residents’ personal finances.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator will ensure that social service staff are trained to be aware of a resident’s need for protective oversight and assistance with management of their personal finances. All staff must receive training on preventing abuse, misappropriation, and exploitation of residents and their possessions, including potential disciplinary outcomes for violations.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer and Administrator should personally conduct an audit by interviewing residents to determine if they have given money, checks, or allowed staff to use their credit or debit cards to purchase items or obtain cash.
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A 97-year-old nursing home resident with dementia never married and had no living relatives. She had $750,000 in savings from her long career working as a federal government employee, and asked people working in the nursing home for help with her finances. Those employees are now alleged to have participated in a year-long scheme to “help her with her finances” by cashing checks, making ATM withdrawals, and transferring money online without her consent.
Workers are accused of cashing large checks—some as high as $50,000. One employee allegedly stole $191,000 and involved her two children by having them cash checks totaling $50,000.
The temporary guardian appointed for the resident filed a lawsuit accusing five former nursing home employees (an activities director, a receptionist, a business office manager, a home care nurse, and a hairstylist) of financial exploitation of the resident in the amount of $600,000, plus another $150,000 discovered after the initial lawsuit was filed.
The resident’s temporary guardian is reported to have said, “I’ve never seen this level of corruption.”
The nursing home’s operating company recently released a statement acknowledging it learned from the Illinois Department of Aging about the allegations that the resident was giving money to employees several months earlier. Apparently, the resident’s bank contacted Illinois Adult Protective Services because of concern about suspicious spending from the resident’s account.
A spokesperson for the police department advised the news media that police have an open criminal investigation into the allegations made in the lawsuit.
