Nursing home has required pension and social security to be direct deposited into their account. Is that procedure protocol or are their other choices ?
Is your spouse on Medicaid? If so, you need to check with an elder law attorney who specializes in Medicaid to find out if the NH can legally require direct deposit.
In my case, the NH asked me if I would allow them to be my husband's representative payee, so that his SS NH payment portion would go directly to them. I emphatically refused, so there is nothing they can do to get their hands on his money. They send me a bill every month, and I pay them the amount Medicaid has determined that I need to pay.
If your spouse is NOT on Medicaid, and you are paying the full NH amount out of pocket, I don't know if they are legally allowed to require direct deposit. Again, check with an elder law attorney.
when reading you post my thoughts went right to Coco and the problem she had with the adult home her husband was in. They got her to sign over his check - not a good idea. Yes, consult a lawyer if they insist.
I am a spouse of an FTD husband, or was, he passed away in June. I kept him home and had Hospice at the end. I'm concerned because my sister has place our mom and allowed her pension and social security to be direct deposited into the nursing homes account. My sister said it was just easier, she's a nurse and trusted she knew what was best, now I'm questioning her decisions.
When my Mom was in a NH she was on Medicaid, I had her SS and pension check deposited in our joint account and paid the NH their share every month. When my MIL went in also on Medicaid, my DH choose to have her SS sent directly to them. When she passed they sent us a check for what was still in her account. Both ways worked out good, depends how you want to handle it.
My brother-in-law was a nursing home patient paid by Medicaid. The only income he had was a fairly small social security check. SS deposited $30 from his check per month (this was the late 1990s) into a joint checking account with me for his personal items. The balance of his check went directly to the nursing home, and Medicaid paid the rest. I kept track of what was spent out of the $30 and each month, I got a statement from DHS each month showing the nursing home bill, what SS paid and what Medicaid paid. At the end of the year, I submitted receipts showing what was spent for personal items.
It worked well for for us for three years before he passed on.
Thank you for all your responses. I'm going to trust this decision will work out, as my sister has taken care of our mom the last few yrs. and probably just burned out with dealing with everything.
hoosier, I seem to remember reading on these boards that some nursing homes were getting orders for things like OT, PT, etc, that were not really helpful for the patient. It seems that this involves revenues from providing these services. If the NH has a fee by procedure policy, it would be important to review the monthly bills and question the the appropriateness of everything.