Utopia Home Care

My Sister Has Utopia and they are the WORST! Half the time, more than half the time they don't show up. No call from Utopia.. You cannot rely on them. Someone finally showed up last week, I personally talked to her that my sister fell and to do the floor she told me ok and NEVER DID IT! I live out of state or I would do it myself! I am outraged how the seniors are treated. Like I said my sister fell on the floor hurt herself n it. My sister asked her since she hurt herself to please give her 5 pound dog some water. she had the nerve to say IT'S NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION. I AM OUTRAGED. As of today again NO ONE SHOWED UP! Oct 17th , 2022.

Review: Utopia Health Care contracted to provide home health care In January, 2013. In March 2013 they sent me a lovely aide, [redacted] who worked until May [redacted]. No explanation why she was "let go".

Sometime later, [redacted] was sent. She was fine, but also mysteriously "dismissed". On Monday June **, Utopia's office ([redacted]) dispatched [redacted] ([redacted]?) to my home. [redacted] came late and proceeded to fiddle with my door lock upon entering. I asked she not touch the mechanism because it had a sensitive remote interface. She agreed. She then adjourned to my den to call the Utopia office and to have conversations on her cell phone in Spanish. She then insisted on doing paperwork.. and not taking care of me or my needs. She never asked if she could get me breakfast or even put dishes in washer. She was very frightening and I realized she would not work out. I had severe [redacted] and asked her to leave so I could use toilet. She first refused and called Utopia again. Then she said ok , but sign her work sheet so my insurance CNA would pay her. I said "But you did not do anything" She leaned over my wheelchair and shouted in very menacing tone, " But I'm HERE!" She added it didn't matter because my insurance was paying, not me. I was terrified, so I signed . When I noticed the date and hours were blank, I began to fill it in. She grabbed the paper from me and said she would fill it in. I escorted her to my door where I saw she was once again rattling the handle and mechanism. When my husband returned from work, he could not get in because the remote was compromised. he also noticed the big black oil stain. I called Utopia and spoke to both [redacted] and [redacted] about the harassment, the broken lock and the oil stain and the possible FRAUD of making me sign a blank paper. [redacted] apologized, but offered no remedy. She said she's speak to [redacted] and get me another home health aide. That was June [redacted]. Today is July [redacted]. The office does not return my calls. [redacted] came by to view oil damage (which was under a mound of cleaning agent and sand) and to have me sign ANOTHER 'PLAN OF CARE' form - for which she also billed my insurance. She did not return the BLANK paper [redacted] forced me to sign as I requested she do. I did not want to be part of a possible insurance fraud. [redacted] claims she has been searching for an aide for me. I asked why not keep [redacted]? She claims she didn't know why [redacted] left. [redacted] told me they had no work for her but that she could keep calling them. To verify, please contact [redacted] at ###-###-####. I know that Utopia owes [redacted] a promised salary for a 3 week 9 hour/day training program. They never paid herDesired Settlement: I want to view my file and be assured no fraudulent charges were sent to my insurances using my signature. I want an explanation of why my insurances were charged for FOUR duplicate plans of care - and I want the charges for the 3-4 hours of home care which were NOT provided while I was entertaining [redacted] and [redacted] who used that time to "access" me while my home health care aide just sat at the table. I want reimbursement for the time and materials needed to clean the oil stain, or to pay for replacement of the pavers.

I want a written explanation for the egregious neglect and dismissive treatment and lack of timely,, safe and professional service.

I want an apology in addition to the letter and I want a review of all my signed paperwork. I am concerned about policy to overcharge clients and insurances. I want reimbursement for damage to front pavers and for entry lock.

Business

Response:

Utopia Home care, Inc has been a family owned and operated business for 30 years. We take tremendous pride in treating our clients with respect. This complaint is very disconcerting to us because we have been trying to make [redacted] happy. First, we bill [redacted] directly, not her insurance company. We take great offense to the insurance fraud allegations. Utopia has a comprehensive corporate compliance program and regularly self audits all departments. All invoices sent to her have the timeslips attached with her signature on them. We also send them electronically to her husband, as they requested. All of the documents she has requested, she has in her possession, we will however resend them to her. We do NOT bill for the RN supervisory visits. On the first day of every case, the nurse does an assessment and creates a care plan for the aide to follow. She coordinates the care plan with the patients doctor. This is a NYSDOH regulation. The RN updates this care plan regularly in accordance to the patients changes, needs and requests. This is a service Utopia provides and DOES NOT bill for.

Regarding the three aides she mentioned, the first two had REQUESTED to be removed from the case. One aide complained about inappropriate ethnic comments made by the patient and asked to be removed. The third aide was 7 minutes late, when she arrived, she could not find the care plan and called the office. The aide was more comfortable speaking her native language with the bi-lingual Office Manager and it was faster for her to get the information she needed regarding the care plan. It was discovered that [redacted] had taken the care plan out of the home and brought it to work. As a DOH regulation, the care plan must be left in the home. This is a guide for the aides to follow, approved by the physician and monitored by our RN supervisor. The aide was writing down the information, this is the paperwork she was doing. After hearing her speak spanish on the phone, [redacted] asked her to leave. It is our policy that the aides call the office before they le ave when they do not complete the assigned hours. They must get a signed time slip so that we know they were there, we reimburse them an hour for travel time. This obviously is NOT billed either. We investigated all of the situations and spoke with all of the aides.

On 6/**/13, during a conversation with our RN supervisor, [redacted] claimed that a black stain was left on her driveway and a lock was broken by the third aide. Our RN actually went to the client's house on 6/**/13 to assess the stain, she did not see any. [redacted] showed her a picture of a stain. She told her that her husband bought a chemical that removed it. She also told my nurse that the lock was previously broken and that the aide made it worse when she touched it. Our aide did NOT alter the lock, it was broken. However, the resolution agreed upon was [redacted] would send the receipt for the chemical and get an estimate to repair the lock. We would review the estimate but felt that it was well documented that the lock was previously broken. She wanted us to replace the block that had the stain and six blocks around it. We told her we would pay for the chemical, we had no proof that the aide caused the stain in the picture and there w as no stain present. As of today, we have not received anything from [redacted].

In response to [redacted]'s charge that the office does not return her calls, we have a list of documented calls made by our office in regards to service or repair receipts. It is Utopia Home Care's procedure to document calls made and received with our clients.

I cannot give a written explanation of any egregious neglect or dismissive treatment as I do not believe there was any. We have kept in touch with [redacted]. We have called and notified her of cancellations, we offered her replacement aides, which she has refused.

We will resend her all of the documents she requested. Utopia Home Care

prides itself in caring for its clients and working to satisfy their needs. Our employees are amazing and go out of their way to help our clients. We are an equal opportunity employer and take pride in our staff. This is why we have such a great reputation. I am sorry that [redacted] was not happy with our services. We tried very hard to please her. I can confidently say that we have investigated all of her allegations and feel that we have handled all situations professionally.