Dancer Intro’s Bill Requiring Regular Auditing of Nursing Home Records and Statements

WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 3, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — Assembly Republican Ron Dancer, R-Ocean, Burlington, Monmouth and Middlesex, has introduced legislation (A-4480) that requires the Commissioner of Health to annually audit a minimum 10 percent of a nursing home’s records and quarterly statements to ensure residents’ funds are not misappropriated. In the event a misappropriation is discovered, charges will be filed against the person responsible, the nursing home, or both.

Dancer’s bill is in response to recent national media reports of allegations of thefts and misappropriations of nursing home residents’ personal funds, including 28 instances in New Jersey.

“Many nursing care facilities provide quality care services for their residents. However, there are facilities where physical and emotional neglect takes place as well as well as financial abuse,” said Dancer. “It is not unheard of that unscrupulous individuals employed by the nursing home or the provider itself improperly access a patient’s finances and misuses or depletes someone’s savings. Periodic audits will help protect the assets of nursing home residents and hold those accountable who exploit an elderly person.”

Examples of potential financial abuse at a nursing facility include a staff member of a nursing home stealing a resident’s personal property or information in order to withdraw money from the resident’s bank account or pressuring a resident to modify a will, deed or trust. Financial abuse can also come in the form of false fees or charges that deprive a resident of a significant amount of their income or savings.

“Protecting and caring for the elderly includes ensuring their finances are not vulnerable to unprincipled individuals or facilities,” stated Dancer. “Periodic and unannounced examinations of a nursing home’s records will help in the effort to curb this abuse. Additionally, the bill requires that all due care be exercised to preserve the confidentiality of the records and the privacy of the resident.”

The bill’s audit requirements will serve to supplement and strengthen current law to discover financial abuse. According to the Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly, state law requires that “any caretaker, social worker, physician, registered or practical nurse, who has reasonable cause to suspect or believe that an institutionalized person is being or has been abused or exploited, shall report such information to the ombudsman…” Exploitation is defined as “the act of using a person or his resources for another person’s profit or advantage without legal entitlement.”