My mom and cousin hired this company three years ago. My mom has dementia and was not speaking to me at the time. I live 1800 miles away. Fast forward to November of 2019. She calls me and begs for my help. Her short term memory is gone and I could hear the fear in her voice. I told her I would help her. The first thing I did was fire that company. They knew how bad my mom was and they had my POA for financial and medical on file yet they would not communicate with me. I got no updates, schedules or invoices. The director was rude, condescending, and unprofessional from the get go. My mom kept complaining about items missing and caregivers not showing up or showing up and doing nothing. I was not allowed to talk to a caregiver at anytime unless I called her when she was with my mom. In November my cousin emailed me a years worth of schedules and invoices. Wow. What a wake up call. So many discrepancies, schedule changes, charges on my moms debit card that were fraudulent. I could go on and on. Many concerns are under investigation. It has taken me a month to figure it all out. They sent me an invoice for $650. After all my mom has been through with this company and all the BS I have had to deal with trying to manage her care, I have written a letter with dates, charges, discrepancies, schedule changes, etc. they will not answer my questions. They are sending my mom nasty letters to pay up knowing full well I pay her bills. She doesn’t have enough cognitive ability. She has been ripped off for far more than her final bill. I have written a letter laying out all the fraud, scheduling issues, etc. I am deciding whether to tell them I am not going to pay them for the reasons I just stated. My mom and I have excellent credit and I have never defaulted on any bill or loan. I don’t think they deserve anymore money from my mom. If they’d send it to collections, so be it. Has anyone ever been in this situation. What did you do?
The bank and police department are working on the fraud cases. I wrote the healthcare company last year about many scheduling and financial discrepancies. No response. Out of the blue I was copied on an email to my cousin from the HC Director. She said I needed to step in and deal with my mom because they couldn’t deal with her and her accusations. For 10 months I begged them to communicate with me! I did not reply. I talked to my mom and fired the company. Things are much better for my mom for now.
After my original post, I wrote a letter with a check for the final bill. I deducted amount that is being investigated which was 2/3 of final bill. I laid out the issues. I don’t think I’ll hear anymore from them.
I know eventually my mom will need more care. Her case manager is looking into hospice care for her if she qualifies. She is part of a Neighborhood Program so she doesn’t have to travel to office visits. She has an NP and case manager that visit regularly. I handle ALL aspects of her care and financials. With all of that in place, I’m in a much better place than last year at this time.
Call the Ombudsman's office in your area and ask them about the discrepancies you have found. Call the police and do a report about all of the missing money/property that was not reported via banking issues. The suggestion below about the bonding/insurance company is a good one, too. I'm sure you'll have to ask the company who bonds their employees. You might have to do that in a letter w/copy of your POA attached and note in the letter it is being copied to your attorney....or....ask an attorney to get the process going for you. Once they get a letter like that, they may be done with your mom, too, in regard to billing.