Failure of a nursing home to ensure that residents are free from the misappropriation and/or exploitation of their personal possessions and financial assets by its employees may be regarded as abuse, neglect, and exploitation and result in charges of fraud if false claims are submitted for reimbursement
Compliance Perspective – Financial Exploitation
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator will review policies and procedures involving misappropriation and exploitation by facility staff, and the non-acceptance of gifts or money offered by residents.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer, as well as every department head, will ensure that staff are trained regarding residents’ rights to be free from misappropriation and exploitation of their personal and financial possessions. Staff training should also emphasize the facility’s prohibition of accepting personal gifts or money offered by residents. The Compliance and Ethics Officer may consider providing the tips offered by the attorney general to residents and their families in a Resident Council meeting or as a handout. (See below)
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer and the Director of Nursing should personally conduct an audit by educating and discussing the policy and procedures with residents and family members and determining if anyone has concerns related to the topic.
After an investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the attorney general charged a 41-year-old Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) who worked in a nursing home and senior living facility with four counts of “financial exploitation by a caretaker” and one count of “engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses.”
While employed by the nursing and rehabilitation center, court records indicate that between November 2016 and February 2017, the CNA used a resident’s debit card without the resident’s permission to withdraw funds using an ATM machine, purchase personal items at a Walmart Supercenter store, pay a personal electric utility bill, and pay her co-payment for an orthopedic doctor’s appointment.
If convicted, the CNA faces fines and imprisonment.
The attorney general used this case to point out that because of their vulnerability and the need to protect them from abuse, neglect, or exploitation, families and loved ones should remain engaged in the lives of seniors. He made the following suggestions regarding seniors in nursing homes:
- Appoint a family member (or another trustworthy person) to monitor the financials/trust funds of the resident;
- Once a year, pull a credit report on elderly loved ones – look for suspicious activity;
- Don’t give loved ones in long term care facilities large amounts of cash;
- Don’t pay nursing home bills with cash;
- Advise loved ones to keep credit cards and cash in a safe place;
- Advise loved ones they should not agree to purchase items or loan money to nursing home staff;
- Report suspicious activity to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
