Tucson nursing home residents face unnecessary costs in rep payee program
Some of her clients who didn't have trusted friends or family to help them handle their finances wanted their nursing home to act as "representative payee," receiving the patient's
Preston noticed
"Nursing facilities have consistently seen this going on for years," said Preston, who worked as a social worker for 28 years before launching her benefits consulting firm Benefit Results in 2015. "I can't get an answer on why they (
While some nursing home officials say the private companies do a perfectly fine job as rep payee, they're confounded by the Tucson Social Security office's denials of nursing homes' applications to do the work for free.
"Clearly it should be always the resident's decision, not somebody else's," said
When approved as rep payee, the nursing home receives their patients' monthly
Private companies who act as representative payees are allowed to take a fee for their services. Nursing home officials say the Tucson Social Security office usually refers beneficiaries to one particular rep payee, the nonprofit Project H.O.M.E. It charges
Project H.O.M.E. was founded in 1992 initially with a focus on helping people with mental illness handle their benefits by acting as an intermediary with government agencies, Star archives said.
"It's a labor of love, truly," said
Rodriguez noted Project H.O.M.E. rep payee applications are sometimes denied when another party steps up to handle a beneficiaries' finances, but she said she can't comment on
"I don't know why
Some nursing homes prefer not to act as a representative payee: With a small staff, St. Luke's Home doesn't have the capacity to act as rep payee for its patients, so it refers them to Project H.O.M.E., said L'Don Sawyer, executive director.
But when a nursing home is willing to be rep payee, Preston said there's no clear reason why a private company would be the preferred choice, instead of nursing homes that get equal, if not greater, financial scrutiny.
"If you only have
Project H.O.M.E. is not a licensed fiduciary -- representative payees aren't required to be -- but its finances are audited every three years by an independent auditor, through the
Nursing home leaders with locations outside
"I just feel very strongly that policy should not depend on where you live," Preston said. "That's my frustration. Families count on policies being done by the book."
NO EXPLANATION
The
Reached by phone,
In response to the Star's questions, Raymond initially provided, via email, only a generic explanation of how the representative payee program works. After repeated inquiries, Raymond said the agency is looking into the
Raymond said, without a formal Freedom of Information Act request, the agency would not disclose how many rep payee applications are handled in
The
Families affected by rep payee denials would face a winding path to get answers: Preston has been seeking an explanation for the denials for more than a year on behalf of a family she's working with. Preston contacted
Preston filed a complaint with the Arizona Long-Term Care ombudsman,
But she said families affected by this should contact the nonprofit
A new law is empowering advocacy firms like the
"I don't know if this is abuse," he said. But "the payee should have some input on who their representative is. That's a
The newly passed legislation, HR 4547, authorizes protection and advocacy systems to investigate representative payees, either at the behest of
"We're up for the challenge," he said. "We know we may uncover some things but that's the only way we can make the system better."
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