The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced on January 31, 2025, that a Springfield woman pleaded guilty to stealing over $40,000 from elderly nursing home residents and her employer, exploiting her role as a Medicaid consultant.
As a result of the plea, she was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in the Hampden County House of Correction, which was suspended for five years, in addition to five years of probation. As part of her probation, she has been ordered to pay more than $40,000 in restitution to the victims, have no contact with the victims and witnesses, refrain from all Power of Attorney and Fiduciary work, and refrain from working or volunteering with elders or in any healthcare setting.
The charges stem from a scheme where, since at least 2022, the defendant used her role as a Medicaid consultant to steal money from at least seven elderly residents of various nursing homes, her employer, and a local bank. The defendant allegedly wrote false checks from her victims to herself, used their debit cards to make personal purchases without their knowledge, and forged signatures to grant herself a false durable power of attorney, which she used to access and steal from at least one victim’s bank account.
Additionally, the AGO alleged that, during her employment with a Medicaid consulting company, she used the company’s credit card to complete unauthorized online retail purchases, which were delivered to her residential address for personal use. Her employment with the Medicaid consulting company was ultimately terminated.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
F602 in the State Operations Manual, Appendix PP states that residents have the right to be free from abuse, neglect, and misappropriation of resident property. Individuals with a legal obligation to manage a resident’s finances must use those funds for necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare. If they fail to do so, the resident may be at risk of harm. Fiduciaries who hold legal responsibility for handling finances include agents under power of attorney, trustees, guardians, conservators, Social Security representative payees, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fiduciaries. In some cases, family members or other individuals may step in to manage a resident’s finances. However, this can lead to potential abuse, where individuals take money or assets for themselves, putting the resident’s financial wellbeing in jeopardy. This misappropriation may even prevent the resident from being able to pay for their nursing home or assisted living community bills. Facilities are required to report any allegations of misappropriation or exploitation of a resident’s funds or personal property to the State Agency and to the appropriate local authorities.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies on misappropriation of residents’ belongings or funds. Also review your policies and procedures for working with residents’ Medicaid consultants and financial caregivers. Ensure that your policies are reviewed at least annually and updated when new information becomes available.
- Train all staff about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of residents, including misappropriation of personal belongings or funds. Also train appropriate staff to monitor payments to the nursing home or assisted living community, as unpaid bills may be a result of financial abuse of the resident.
Audit to ensure that residents’ bills are being paid, and that resident financial caregiver documentation is on file, such as copies of a POA instrument, Social Security representative payee - authorization, or a guardianship court order. Staff should be aware of compliance and ethics concerns and understand their responsibility to report any violations to their supervisor, the compliance and ethics officer, or via the anonymous hotline.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, Inc. for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
