Vet Home Missed Billing

— The state-run Fayetteville Veterans Home missed $114,000 in Medicare reimbursements last year because it didn’t file reports in a timely manner, the state Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday.

A department assessment found the billing failure, according to a news release.

The loss stems from late submission of an assessment referred to as a Minimum Data Set, required by federal Medicare administrators. The Veterans Department is working with the national accounting firm BKD, which has headquarters in Springfield, Mo., to complete Medicare billing for 2012 to prevent more delays, according to the release.

“This isn’t the type of news we want to report, but we owe it to the state of Arkansas and our veterans to be honest about everything that occurs within this agency,” said Cissy Rucker, department director. “We found this mistake and are working to correct it to ensure we receive the maximum amount of Medicare funding at the facility.”

Rucker replaced Dave Fletcher as director earlier this year. Fletcher left at the governor’s request after lawmakers learned the agency was having financial troubles. Those troubles included a lack of maintenance at the department’s veteran’s home in Little Rock. That home is shutting down because the agency does not have enough money to repair and operate it.

The Fayetteville home has an annual budget of $7 million and is on sound financial footing, the department said. The Fayetteville home was repaid after a review of department books found $631,450 was diverted from its operation to support the faltering Little Rock home.

The department announcement Friday attributed the Fayetteville billing mistake to turnover among the staff responsible for filing those reports, a recent federally implemented software update for the assessments and a prior lack of agency oversight.

The Fayetteville Veterans Home does not receive an appropriation from the state. The facility relies on Medicare, Medicaid, federal Department of Veteran Affairs payments to residents and private payments.

Also Friday, Nadine Huddleston resigned as administrator of the Fayetteville home, a post she has held since 2007. The Veterans Department announced the resignation the same morning. A spokeswoman there said Huddleston had announced her plans to the agency before the missed billing was found and was stepping down to care for her aging parents. When contacted for comment, a spokesman for the Fayetteville home said Huddleston was referring all questions to the department.

Shirley Clark, sister of home resident Tyrone Leffal, said she knew Huddleston was caring for her parents and that the task had become more difficult recently.

“I hate to see Nadine leave and hope they are able to find a replacement very soon,” Clark said.

Sarah Robinson, the facility’s director of nursing, will serve as the acting administrator until a full-time replacement is hired, according to the release.

The home opened in 2006 on two renovated floors of the former Washington Regional Medical Center, at the corner of College Avenue and North Street in Fayetteville. The 108-bed home rents its space from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which secured a $1, 99-year lease to the building in 2005.

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