Nursing Aide in Nebraska Assisted Living Center Accused of Stealing from Residents
Failure to protect residents from the misappropriation and exploitation of their personal information by facility staff may result in charges of substandard quality of care and the submission of false claims
Compliance Perspective – Identity Theft
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator will review the policies and procedures designed to protect and prevent misappropriation and exploitation of residents’ personal information.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer, as well as every department head, will ensure that staff are trained regarding the consequences of using residents’ personal information to make unauthorized purchases and payments, and to immediately report any suspected instances of misuse of residents’ personal information to their supervisor.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer through the resident and family councils should periodically review the importance of protecting and monitoring residents’ credit card and banking information and reporting any suspected discrepancies.
IDENTITY THEFT FROM RESIDENTS BY EMPLOYEES
When the family of a resident living in a Nebraska assisted living center reviewed their family member’s bank and credit card accounts, they noticed some unauthorized purchases and payments made to Amazon and two utility companies. The family contacted the senior center which then contacted the local sheriffs’ office who arrested the aide.
The son of the resident had obtained the name and address of the aide through a call he made to Amazon. The son also checked with the utility companies and was able to get copies of the charges that had been paid to them along with the name of the person.
After being arrested, the aide admitted to investigators that she had used the resident’s information to make the payments to the utility companies and for purchases from Amazon.
In a search of the accused aide’s residence, the sheriff’s’ investigators recovered more than 30 items that were suspected of being purchased from Amazon.
After identifying the person believed to be the thief, the assisted living center sent letters to the residents and their families to notify them about the thefts. Since the notification and the initial discovery of the unauthorized purchases and payments using the account information was discovered, two other residents have reported similar thefts and a fourth victim has been identified.
All together the aide made purchases totaling about $20,000 using stolen cards and residents’ identity information. She is currently being held at the county corrections department.
