NCJ Number
84650
Date Published
1981
Length
119 pages
Annotation
Testimony is presented on the findings of a General Accounting Office (GAO) audit of a sample of boarding homes receiving Federal funds, and responsive testimony is given by the owners of two of the homes investigated, as well as by persons involved in the investigation of boarding home fraud and abuse.
Abstract
To save money, most States have been shifting thousands of their mental patients out of State mental hospitals and placing them in boarding homes, where the cost can be shifted to the Federal Supplementary Security Income program (SSI). Boarding homes are generally old hotels or structures once used as nursing homes but later determined to be unsafe. The GAO conducted a full-scale financial audit of 10 boarding homes and found little accountability for Government funds, which composed more than 90 percent of boarding home revenues. The GAO investigation also found that (1) patients' funds were abused, (2) some operators continued to collect SSI checks long after residents had died or left the facility, (3) residents' mail was opened to secure energy assistance checks for use without patients' permission, and (4) owners falsified tax returns by underreporting income and failing to verify reported expenses. Recommendations for Federal action to curb boarding home fraud and abuse include boarding homes' filing appropriate financial statements, with penalties for falsification of such a report.