Failure to Provide Resident Access to Personal Trust Funds During Bank Transition
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to honor residents' rights to manage their financial affairs by not providing access to personal trust accounts for more than two months. One resident, cognitively intact per a quarterly MDS assessment, reported that he maintained a trust account and routinely used his funds to purchase toiletries and personal items. He stated that facility staff had previously gone to the store monthly on his behalf and debited his account, but this practice had stopped for the past couple of months without explanation, and his family had been supplying his toiletries and other items during this time. Another resident, who was moderately cognitively impaired per a quarterly MDS assessment, reported that she had routinely received $70 in cash from her trust account at the beginning of each month but had not received any money for over two months until she was given $138 in cash by staff. She stated she used her money to buy phone minutes for herself and her son and indicated she was still owed additional funds. The Business Office Manager, Regional Business Office Manager, and Administrator each confirmed that, following a change in facility ownership and the transition to new bank accounts beginning in December, the facility had no cash box, no cash available, and residents and responsible parties had been unable to access trust account funds since January, affecting all residents with trust accounts and halting staff shopping for residents.
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