Failure to Reimburse Resident Trust Account Fees and Provide Reasonable Access to Funds
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that checking account fees deducted from the resident trust account were reimbursed by the facility, affecting 127 residents whose funds were managed by the facility. Monthly reconciliations showed repeated deductions for deposit slip and check orders, but there was no documentation that these amounts were reimbursed to the resident trust account. Interviews with the Business Office Manager (BOM) and Corporate Business Office Manager revealed that the responsibility for reimbursement was not fulfilled due to staff turnover, lack of oversight, and issues with new software implementation. The administrator confirmed that operating expenses such as deposit slips and check orders should not be charged to the resident trust fund. Additionally, the facility failed to provide residents with reasonable access to their personal funds. Residents could only access their funds between 10:30 A.M. and 2:00 P.M., Monday through Friday, and only if they made their request during a narrow window when CNAs circulated a list of residents with trust account balances. If a resident missed this window, they could not access their funds until the next business day. This process was confirmed by interviews with cognitively intact residents, CNAs, and the BOM, all of whom described the limited and inflexible access to personal funds. Facility policies and resident agreements indicated that residents should have access to their funds during regular business hours, but did not specify such restrictive hours or exclude Saturday availability. The lack of timely reimbursement for account fees and the restricted access to personal funds were not in accordance with facility policy or regulatory expectations, as confirmed by staff and resident interviews and review of facility documentation.