Has anyone had issues with a nursing home mishandling trust funds?
The nursing my mom is at has a trust in her name, and they pay out all her bills from it. Being her legal guardian, we shop for my mom. We buy clothes, bed clothes, shoes, whatever we think she might want or need since there is plenty of money in her trust fund. That's been fine until before Christmans last year. The front office stopped paying her last receipts we turned in. We'd call, they'd give us the run around that they haven't got to. After two months, I got a hold of the office manager, and she said they weren't paying it. Thanks for tellng me after two months. There is a 'new' policy that everything has to be brought to them for inspection . Now since the tags are off, her names in all her clothes, and she is wearing them, they cannot accept them as proof. This new policy isn't in writing, just something they come up with. I get the feeling she just made it up. I had to wonder why they didn't tell me there was a problem on day one I turned in the receipts in, instead of acting like they were to pay it, they were just busy. Why I can't prove anything, i got this feeling that they are running a game on me. My wife mentioned that they have the receipts too. They could "pay-out" the receipts to themselves, and my mom's account would balance out. Thinking she is right. If they weren't going to pay for the items without inventorying them, why didn't they send the receipts back with a letter, and the new policy explaining, instead running this delay tractic on us.
My wife even suggested that they could be doing this to impede us from buying her new clothes, as a passive-aggressive way to get back at mom for outburst she has. We won't spend money on and buy her all the nice clothes she likes, if they refuse to pay receipts.
I am at a loss. I can't believe they can just refuse to pay. Anyone has any ideas. We are considering moving her, because I don't think I can trust the now.
Barber/beauty shop, books & magazines, houseplants, Christmas decorations, are some other examples. I think non-Medicaid covered co-pays for any drug or medical service can also be paid for out of a trust fund.
If the resident wants cupcakes, is he/she allowed to buy a dozen to share with others or only one (a la cart) for him/herself? I wonder if Medicaid or snf decide if the resident can share a box of 24 cards w/friends or family.
Maybe this is a gray area.
My second point of understanding is when it comes down to brass tacks, the government i.e. Medicaid/Estate Recovery hopes to have some funds in this trust account as it will be paid to the state upon death of the patient. If more than the $2,000.00 accumulates in the trust that can be an issue with Medicaid.
My objective would be to coordinate money-in/money-out so the fund never accumulates over $50 - $100. A lady at the snf said when Medicaid recertification begins, the snf must report to Medicaid how much money is in the Trust fund. I'm still trying to learn the ins/outs so I will know how to conduct business. It's not fair that families are left to their own devises to try and figure it out.
The OP really has legitimate requests as far as I'm concerned - unless the contract states items purchased must be inspected. If services are obtained on the economy - like out-of-pocket co-pays that aren't covered by Medicaid, or a sandwich and cola at Subway, the only proof that can be submitted is the receipt/invoice for those services and goods. The doctor and the patient can't demonstrate to the snf what is listed on the receipt/invoice. It would be a cold day underground if a doctor and Subway manager had to be present to verify a receipt. So, again I'm sensing there are grey areas when it comes to snf trust funds. Maybe the snf arbitrarily sets it's own standards for what is appropriate if it thinks too much money is being spent or if it is concerned about the amount that is actually in the trust fund at a given point.
If anyone else knows more about this or why the OP really had problems getting the money back, I'd like to have a firm grasp on this issue.