Trending
Charges filed recently against four home care workers at a Conewango Township facility add insult to literal injury – and should be a reminder to home care workers throughout the state that the forms they fill out during each shift carry real weight.
Two supervisors and two workers face varying degrees of charges related to signing time sheets that said the workers had provided care for a man who later passed away, in part, from an alleged lack of the same care the workers said they had provided.
All four of the workers said the unnamed man refused help and treatment, but the state Attorney General’s investigation, according to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, said there were no documented instances of the man refusing services. But, the state alleges, the four employees accepted payment for services that weren’t actually provided under the state's Medical Assistance Program, a joint federal and state program that purchases health care for low-income state residents. It is administered by the state Office of Medical Assistance Programs under the state Human Services Department.
“At all times, the money passing through remains Medical Assistance money,” the affidavit states.
Home care workers provide a valuable service, often in difficult and thankless situations like the one described in Hickory Creek Home Care. But those services are also often paid for with state and federal tax dollars. It's heartbreaking when the system breaks down the way it allegedly did in Hickory Creek. It's infuriating, though, when there is both harm caused to a person and essentially a theft of service that involves a few thousand dollars of taxpayer money.
Many home care workers work long hours providing the best care they can for other peoples' loved ones. What happened in Hickory Creek is close to a worst-case scenario, and one that we hope is remembered by those put in management positions in these facilities.