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A resident trust fund is money held by a nursing home for a resident of the facility.

No! Michigan and federal laws give you the right to manage your own financial affairs. Nursing homes have no right to manage, use or dispose of your money. If you need help managing your funds, the nursing home is required to explain available options including a trust fund.

Yes. If you want the nursing home to manage your funds, it is required to set up a trust fund for you. Under Michigan law, the nursing home must hold and manage up to $5,000 of your funds if you ask. A home cannot refuse to handle funds less than $5,000.

YES! You live in a Medicare or Medicaid approved nursing home, the nursing home must deposit any of your funds above $50 in an interest bearing account. The account must be separate from the facility’s own funds. Up to $50 of your funds may be held in a non-interest bearing account or petty-cash fund by the nursing home. Amounts greater than $50 must be placed in an interest bearing account.

Private nursing homes must deposit any of your funds above $200 in an interest bearing account. Up to $200 of your funds may be held in a non-interest bearing account or petty-cash fund by a private nursing home. Private nursing homes are licensed by the state of Michigan but are not approved by Medicaid or Medicare.

NO! The nursing home cannot spend your funds unless you give specific permission for each use. If you have given someone else permission to act on your behalf, this person can authorize the nursing home to release some or all of your funds.

You have the right to appoint a "patient representative" to help manage your personal or financial affairs. The nursing home should give you information about how to appoint a patient representative. If you need further

information regarding options for giving someone authority to act on your behalf, contact your local ombudsman office and ask for a copy of the booklet, "Authority to Act for Others, Guardianship and Other Options."

Yes! You should get a report from the nursing home on your funds at least once every three months. The quarterly report should provide you with the following information:

• how much money you had at the beginning of the period and how much you have now.
• how much interest you earned, if any.
• total deposits and withdrawals.
• detailed information on each transaction involving your money.
• where your money is being held.

You also have a right to review the financial records for your resident trust account. The nursing home must make this information available for at least two hours each business day.

Yes! The nursing home must let you remove funds held in a petty-cash fund by the facility anytime during normal business hours.

If the facility is holding your funds in an account outside of the home, it must give you any or all of your funds within three business days of your request. The nursing home must also return your funds within three days if you are discharged from the home.

Nursing homes must give the administrator of a resident’s estate a written accounting of the resident’s personal belongings and funds within ten business days of the resident’s death.

If you are paying privately for your care, the nursing home may charge you a reasonable fee for managing your trust fund. The fee cannot be more than the cost of the service, the charge to other residents, or the amount of interest earned on the trust funds.

Nursing homes cannot charge you a fee for a resident trust fund if Medicare or Medicaid is helping to pay for your nursing home care. Medicaid and Medicare payments include the costs of managing a resident trust fund.

Medicare and Medicaid approved nursing homes must tell you if your trust fund gets within $200 of the resource limit for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. If this happens, the nursing home must also tell you that if you go over the SSI resource limit, you may lose eligibility for the SSI and Medicaid programs.

Rev: 92, 96, 97, 98, 99, 03/00, 04/04