Tag Archives: nursing home

Another Win!

We have another nursing home win! In this matter, the nursing home worked with the client (before we were hired) to file the Medicaid application for her disabled husband. Client knew little of what was involved with the Medicaid application and relied on the nursing home to complete the application and file it.  During the application process the nursing home kept on telling the client everything was fine.

After being denied twice for Medicaid and 9 months later, the nursing home gave the client a bill in excess of $100,000 and told her to pay it or else they would discharge her husband. In a move even bolder than that, in a moment of crises as he was being taken to the hospital, they literally had her sign a form as she was rushing out the door to the hospital. That form was an acknowledgement of discharge that could bypass all of the Federal and State regulations for discharge.

Next was the suit by the nursing home against client and her disabled husband in excess of $100,000. Never mind that it was entirely the nursing home’s fault that the nursing home application was denied, and the fact that client did not sign the nursing home contract, the nursing home and their attorneys still sued the disabled husband and client. We immediately filed a motion to dismiss and asked for sanctions. A few days before the motions hearing, the nursing home attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the matter (with prejudice) and paid our attorney fees. I would consider that to be a win!

Another Win! – Medical Assistance Issue

We just won another Medical Assistance appeal issue.  In this case, Medical Assitance was initially denied for nursing home benefits and the son of the Medical Assistance applicant was handed an invoice from the nursing home for over $100,000.  Needless to say, he was upset.  We were able to successfully argue that that the transactions at issue were not Medicaid Penalty transfers and that full Medical Assistance benefits should have been granted from day 1.  We received the Administrative Law Judge opinion today removing approximatley 98% of the penalty.  Client is happy.

Should I Sign the Nursing Home Contract?

A very common situation for my clients (or potential clients)  find themselves in is the chaotic situation of transferring their parent from a hospital to an area nursing home for rehabilitation.  It is in this situation, when emotions are high, people are tired, that the nursing home will, at the last second, wants the son or daughter admitting the parent to sign a 60+ page nursing home contract.  Of course, the nursing home contact (usually the nursing home admissions director) is very friendly and advises that “don’t worry” this is just for your parent’s assets and does not obligate you to use your own funds for nursing home expenses.  Often times the nursing home will demand that the contract be signed before admission (even if the hospital is in the process of discharging from the hospital).  Often times this is an extremely hectic situation and the last thing that is on the son’s or daughter’s mind is a careful review of the nursing home contract.  To be clear:  under no circumstances should the contract be signed until an elder law attorney reviews the contract.  It is a very routine question to ask the nursing home to allow time for their elder law attorney to review the contract.  No matter how friendly the director of admissions person is, if there is a shortfall in payment or the Medical Assisstance application goes awry, the nursing will look for however signed the contract to pay the nursing home bill in full.  I had a recent case where the nursing home assured the son that there was nothing to worry about and had him sign the contract in his name.  The nursing home handeled the Medical Assistnace application.  Unfortunately, the Medical Assistance application was denied.  The next day, the nursing home delivered an invoice to the son for immediate payment for $100,000 for unpaid nursing home bills.  Nursing home contracts are sophisticated documents with good attorneys hired by the nursing home that will use this contract against you.  It is absolutely critical that an elder law attorney review that contract as soon as possible.  If the contract is already signed, then the situation becomes more complex.  In either event, a competent elder law attorney should be immediately contacted.

New Medicaid Numbers

Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Figures for 2012

The new minimum community spouse resource allowance (CSRA) is $22,728, and the new maximum CSRA is $113,640. The new maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance is $2,841. The minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance remains $1,838.75.  This has yet to be implemented for Maryland.  It is expected to come out shortly.  It is unclear if this will be retroactive to January 1, 2012.

In part, what this means is that the community spouse of a Medical Assistance applicant can have no more than $113,640 in countable assets at the point when she is seeking eligiblity for the nursing home spouse.  The prior maximum amount allowed was $109,560.

Increase in Nursing Home Costs

According to the newly published survey by Metlife, the average cost of long term care continues to rise.  According to the report the average room nursing home rates rose nationwide by 4.4 percent to $87,235 a year or $239 a day, while assisted living facility costs jumped 5.6 percent on average to $41,724 a year or $3,477 a month.

According to the Metlife survey, Baltimore area nursing homes ranged in monthly costs (for a semi private room) from $6,944 to $9,424 a month. The Baltimore area average assisted living costs grew to $3,830 a month. The Baltimore area average home health aide charged $19/hour.

Nursing Home Asset Protection

A good portion of our clients engaged in virtually no planning (before they came to our office) when faced with a parent or loved one entering a nursing home.  Even in this late stage of the game, there are plenty of opportunities to protect a parent’s or loved ones’ assets from nursing home related costs.  The key document to this process is the financial power of attorney for the nursing home resident.  Without a doubt, this document will be key to the asset protection process.  Ideally, this power of attorney was drafted by an attorney and, if recently executed, conforms with the new Maryland provisions relating to financial powers of attorney.  Without this document, the next question is whether or not the nursing home resident can sign a new financial power of attorney.  Even if this person cannot sign (or should not sign), then seeking court authorization will be neccessary.  The absolute key is that just because one enters the nursing home do not assume that you can’t save assets at that point.  That assumption is totally incorrect.

Medicaid Recovery of Transferred Assets

What is cited below is another jurisdictional case which illustrates the limits of what a State may do to accomplish a Medical Assistance (i.e. Medicaid) recovery on community spouses’ assets.  In this case, an attempt was made to put a Medicaid lien on the estate of a recently deceased community spouse at a time when the nursing home spouse continued to receive Medicaid benefits.  In this case the court ruled that the State was prohibited from reaching into the spouses’ estate for recovery.

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An Idaho district court rules that the state cannot recover assets from the estate of a Medicaid recipient’s spouse that were transferred to the spouse before the Medicaid recipient died. In Re: Estate of Perry (Idaho Dist. Ct., 4th Dist., No. CV-IE-2009-05214, March 16, 2011).

Martha and George Perry owned property together. Mrs. Perry entered a nursing home, and Mr. Perry transferred the property into his name. Mrs. Perry then began receiving Medicaid benefits. Mr. Perry died before Mrs. Perry, and the property was sold. After Mr. Perry’s death, the state filed a claim against his estate seeking recovery of more than $100,000 in Medicaid benefits it had so far paid on Mrs. Perry’s behalf.

The state asserted that, because Mrs. Perry previously had an interest in the property during the marriage, the state could recover an amount equal to her ownership interest. The estate’s personal representative countered that the state was entitled only to recover an amount equal to Mrs. Perry’s interest in the home at the time of her death. Because Mrs. Perry was still alive at the time of the transfer, the personal representative argued the state could not recover any amount. The magistrate ruled that the state’s ability to recover costs was limited to assets that were transferred to the recipient’s spouse at death, not to inter vivos transfers. The state appealed. (Mrs. Perry died while the appeal was pending.)

The Idaho District Court affirms, holding the definition of “estate” in federal Medicaid law does not permit the state to recover property interests the Medicaid recipient divested before death. The court determines that there is a conflict between state and federal law because state law would allow the state to recover from the spouse’s estate so long as the property was once community property, but the court concludes that federal law preempts state law.

from www.elderlawanswers.com

POA Breach of Fiduciary Duty

A Power of Attorney Holder’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty

There is no question that a financial power of attorney holds what is called a “fiduciary duty” to act in the best interests of the grantor.   But what if that power of attorney holder breaches that duty and takes “mom’s” funds for herself?  What if her taking of mom’s funds caused mom to be disqualified from Medical Assistance (i.e. Medicaid)?  Can she be found liable?

An interested case in Indiana answered that quesion in the affirmative.

An Indiana appeals court rules that a woman breached her fiduciary duty to her mother when, among other things, she refused to cash out a life insurance policy in order to qualify her mother for Medicaid and later profited from the policy. Shaw v. Covenant Care Waldron Home (Ind. Ct. App., No. 73A04-1005-SC-317, March 2, 2011) (unpublished).

Joni Shaw admitted her mother to a nursing home. Ms. Shaw signed the admission agreement on behalf of her mother as her attorney-in-fact. Ms. Shaw applied for Medicaid on her mother’s behalf, but the application was denied due to a life insurance policy. Ms. Shaw refused to cash out the policy, and the Medicaid application was never approved. In addition, Ms. Shaw withdrew funds from her mother’s account and deposited them into her sole account. After her mother died, her brother, who was the beneficiary of the life insurance policy, gave her $8,000 from the proceeds of the policy.

The nursing home had an outstanding balance of $5,709.40, which Ms. Shaw refused to pay. The nursing home sued, alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. It argued that an attorney-in-fact who breaches a duty to the principal is liable to third parties as though he or she were the principal. The small claims court found in favor of the nursing home, and Ms. Shaw appealed.

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirms, holding that Ms. Shaw breached her fiduciary duty to her mother. According to the court, because Ms. Shaw profited from refusing to cash in the life insurance policy and she transferred funds from her mother’s account to her own account, it was clear that Ms. Shaw was acting in her own self-interest to the detriment of her mother.

from www.elderlawanswers.com.

The interesting question from a Maryland point of view is what right does the nursing home have to sue the attorney-in-fact.  Can other interested family member’s sue on behalf of mom?  The answer to that question is “yes.”  However, court action will need to be started to give that family member standing to recover the stolen assets.

New Average Nursing Home Costs Released

Metlife recently released their study confirming that nursing and assisted living rates increased nationwide between 2009 and 2010.   For Maryland, in the Baltimore region nursing home costs for semi-private rooms ranged from $6,200/month to $8,742/month.   Nursing home costs for private rooms ranged from $6,510/month to $11,005/month.   Statewide, assisted living costs in 2010 ranged from $2,800/month to $$8,250/month with the average assisted living cost at $4,122/month.

Nursing Home Expenses

Use of Medicaid Recipient’s  Income to Pay Existing Nursing Home Expenses

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released a critical Medical Assistance eligibility update (MR 154).   The changes in this update are profound.  It now allows a nursing home Medical Assistance recipient to use her income to pay for nursing home related expenses (up to 3 months retroactive) to the extent Medical Assistance does not cover said expenses (i.e. she has resources in excess of $2,500).  This is a profound change by the Department and took many years of litigation by another respected elder law attorney to finally achieve this result.  Bottom line, however, is that this can be a benefit for many families that are faced with outstanding nursing home expenses with no normal Medical Assistance coverage for said expenses.

The issue is this, your mother has outstanding nursing home bills and when the application was made for Medical Assistance, she did not have enough assets to pay these invoices.  Given the size of nursing home costs, the outstanding expenses could well be thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.  The nursing home is going to look for payment of these invoices and may well start the involuntary discharge process unless they are paid.  This new Medical Assistance provision allows for mom’s income to be used to offset these expenses for the three months prior to eligibility.  Since this is a brand new provision, it is unclear at present at how efficiently such a request will be implemented by the Department of Social Services.  If you find yourself in this position, it is best to contact an elder law attorney to guide you through this process.

Update:  The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will likley apply the allowance for three months prior to the application date which will overlap the current retroactive Medical Assistance eligibility period.   However, there will be some instances where retroactive Medical Assistance eligilbity may not be available and where this new provision may be of profound help to many individuals.