H. B. 2786
(By Delegate Martin)
[Introduced March 31, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article seven, chapter
nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to prohibiting a person who
is in de facto control of the personal finances of a patient
in a nursing home from converting the patient's finances to
his or her own use.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article seven, chapter nine of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. FRAUD AND ABUSE IN THE MEDICAID PROGRAM.
§9-7-4. Applications for medical assistance; false statements
or representations; conversion of nursing home
patient's funds; criminal penalties.
(a) A person shall not knowingly make or cause to be made a
false statement or false representation of any material fact in
an application for medical assistance under the medical programsof the department of welfare.
(b) A person shall not knowingly make or cause to be made a
false statement or false representation of any material fact
necessary to determine the rights of any other person to medical
assistance under the medical programs of the department of
welfare.
(c) A person shall not knowingly and intentionally conceal
or fail to disclose any fact with the intent to obtain medical
assistance under the medical programs of the department of
welfare to which the person or any other person is not entitled.
(d) A person in de facto control of the personal finances of
a patient residing in a nursing home licensed under article five-
c, chapter sixteen of this code, whether or not such person has
been named guardian of the patient, granted durable power of
attorney for the patient, deemed the patient's representative
under the "substituted consent" provisions of section five-a of
article five-c, chapter sixteen of this code, or otherwise
granted formal control of the patient's finances, shall not
knowingly convert any of the patient's finances to his or her own
use, unless authorized to do so by the state medicaid agency.
(e) Any person found to be in violation of subsection (a),
(b), or (c) or (d) of this section shall be guilty of a felony,
and, upon conviction, shall be confined in the penitentiary not
less than one nor more than ten years, or shall be fined not to
exceed ten thousand dollars or both fined and imprisoned as
provided.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit a person in
de facto control of the personal finances of a patient in a
nursing home from converting the finances of the patient to his
or her own personal use.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.