Failure to Provide Timely Access to Resident Trust Funds
Penalty
Summary
The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to honor residents’ requests for access to their personal funds in accordance with its own policy and regulatory requirements. The facility’s written Resident Trust Fund Policy states that residents who choose to have a trust fund account have the right to have their money safeguarded and to access any requested funds of $50.00 or less the same day. Two cognitively intact residents, both their own responsible parties, reported that although they received $50.00 per month and kept their funds in the resident trust account, they were limited to withdrawing $35.00 per day. One resident stated they had to go to the facility bank twice to obtain $50.00, receiving $35.00 one day and $15.00 the next, and that if they wanted to withdraw $50.00 they had to complete a form for the Business Office Manager and wait two days. Another resident reported that if they needed more than $35.00, they were required to fill out a request form 48 hours in advance and were unsure how they would obtain the full $50.00 without advance notice. Interviews with staff confirmed that the facility had implemented a practice limiting residents to $35.00 per day from their trust accounts, with larger amounts requiring a written request 48 hours in advance. The Business Office Assistant stated residents were allowed to withdraw $35.00 per day and did not know why this limit existed, and that requests for more than $35.00 required a 48‑hour advance form. The Business Office Manager explained that residents withdrew money from a window by the activity room, could withdraw up to $35.00 per day, and that requests for more than $35.00 required a form so the manager could go to the bank because the facility’s cash box could not hold that much money and was limited to $2,000.00. The Business Office Manager acknowledged that the $35.00 limit was a facility policy, not a regulation, and was based on concerns about having too much cash on hand. The Administrator stated that when residents came to the facility bank, the facility could not give every resident their full $50.00 and reported being told by the corporation that if the facility was the payee for a resident’s Social Security, the resident could only be given $10.00 a day and that Social Security rules were followed over CMS guidelines.
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