Healthcare Compliance Perspective:
A Compliance Officer must ensure that families understand the possibilities of financial risks that identify theft and misrepresentation when healthcare providers care for loved ones, regardless of the location. Families must use reputable caregiving skilled nursing homes or home health agencies; inquire as to what actions the healthcare provider will take if there is a theft; keep an inventory of valuables; and monitor loved-one’ step bank accounts and credit card charges.
Faked documents covering up a criminal background, allowed a Hamburg, PA woman to be hired as a home healthcare worker. The fraudulent caretaker was able to gain access to the finances of the elderly person she was hired to care for by convincing the elderly, 82-year-old woman with dementia that she was a CPA; and, as such, could and would be responsible for the woman’s finances.
The Reading, PA police reported that the illegitimate caretaker/CPA wreaked havoc on the elderly victim’s financial status. Using the access she had to the elderly woman’s personal identity documents, she was able to cash out life insurance policies, steal almost $71,000 and unsuccessfully try to confiscate an additional $75,000. Along with the stolen money, the woman secured several credit cards in her own name and initiated illegal purchases totaling nearly $22,000.
Detectives investigating the case believe that the woman attempted to use some of the stolen money for plastic surgery and to purchase some real estate. She also used the victim’s identity to lease a vehicle.
Although the woman was charged with multiple counts of theft, the court records indicate that she was released on an unsecured bail of $10,000.
