Legislation proposed to protect seniors’ financial assets against bad actors connected with nursing homes would actually punish some vulnerable seniors, says a leading long-term care advocate in New Jersey, where the measure has been proposed.
State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-District 19) introduced the bill in response to a spate of local media reports about nursing home residents losing savings, pensions, even vehicles and other possessions after signing over control of their financial assets to a third-party fiscal agent for the facilities. The reports were based on an investigation by NJ Advance Media as it delved into court documents and conducted interviews about the Brooklyn, NY-based company Future Care Consultants and its CEO, Shmuel “Sam” Stern.
Vitale’s legislation would prohibit anyone employed by or connected to a nursing home from manage the financial affairs of residents unless appointed as a guardian through a Superior Court order. Vitale is chair of the New Jersey Senate’s Committee on Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens.
Companion legislation has been introduced in the state Assembly. Both bills (S-3606 and A-5194) also prevent nursing home owners or employees from acting as power of attorney for residents.
“There has to be some sort of mechanism so that when somebody needs help, we’re not going to drain their bank accounts,” Vitale said, according to NJ.com.
But the head of the Health Care Association of New Jersey said the legislation is shortsighted and would harm residents who lack the resources to hire attorneys to file the necessary court documents. Association President and CEO Andy Aronson called the current system a “lifeline to tens of thousands of needy” residents at no cost to them.
“This wrong-headed bill would primarily benefit attorneys, at the expense of this most vulnerable population,” Aronson said in a statement to McKnights Long Term Care News on Tuesday. “The Legislature’s efforts should be spent easing access to care, rather than on making that access more expensive.”
According to its website, Future Care Consultants provides financial and accounting services to nursing homes, handling “pesky paperwork” and collecting outstanding debts along with other services so that facilities can focus on patient care. That work involves collecting residents’ Medicaid and Medicare checks as well. Court documents and victims’ attorneys, however, say that the firm “has sought at times to take control of the savings, the assets, and ultimately the lives of nursing home residents, ostensibly to pay off the debt for their care.”
The articles from NJ.com detail a number of stories about people either admitted to nursing homes for short-term, rehabilitation stays or long-term residences who signed over control of their finances while heavily medicated or without proof of being mentally sound. One woman returned home after a rehabilitation stay at a facility in Hazlet only to find that her house was “emptied of all its possessions,” preparations were being made to sell the home, and her car titled had been signed over to the financial agent.
An email seeking comment from Future Care Consultants was not returned Tuesday. There is no phone number listed on the company’s website. A call to Stern’s attorney, Richard Kozel, was not returned.
