Failure to Reconcile and Return Resident SSA Funds After Discharge
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that a resident’s personal funds were properly managed, reconciled, and returned upon discharge. The resident, who had Parkinson’s disease, was admitted in 2020 and had moderately impaired cognition and dependence on staff for ADLs per an MDS dated 4/2/2024. The census showed the resident was discharged on 4/28/2024. Review of the facility’s payroll bank account statements from 7/14/2021 through 12/3/2021 showed that multiple SSA payments totaling $27,568.37 were deposited into the facility’s payroll account on behalf of this resident. These deposits included one large payment of $19,913.37 and subsequent monthly deposits of $1,531.00. There was no evidence that these SSA funds were ever transferred into the resident’s trust account while the resident was in the facility. Further review of the facility’s transaction report for 1/1/2020 through 1/31/2026 indicated that as of 10/2025, the total due for the resident’s share of cost was zero and the total owed to the resident was zero, despite the SSA deposits into the payroll account. The resident’s trust account showed only a copied check dated 12/10/2024 in the amount of $1,843.70, issued more than seven months after the resident’s discharge, with no documentation that the SSA funds deposited between 7/2021 and 12/2021 were ever credited to the trust account or refunded to the resident within the facility’s policy timeframes. Interviews with the former and current business office managers confirmed that the SSA checks had been deposited into the payroll account, that a trust account for the resident was opened in 1/2022, and that no check from the payroll account was created and deposited into the resident’s trust account to return those funds. The facility’s policy stated that upon permanent discharge, a refund must be issued within three days, and within 30 days when a resident expires, which was not followed in this case.
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