91-year-old woman in hospice care at Durham assisted living facility may be evicted due to facility's billing errors

A Durham assisted living facility is threatening to kick a 91-year-old resident out because of unpaid bills.

The woman’s son says the bills are only unpaid because the facility isn’t submitting correct invoices to her long-term care fund.

"This has just been a huge, big headache," David Stinson said.

It’s a headache Stinson doesn’t need as he tries to enjoy what time his mother has left.

Iva Stinson is in hospice care at Brookdale Durham, a place she has called home for five years.

"The people who work with her day in a day out, they’re just wonderful," Stinson said about his mother’s care.

It’s the leadership and the paperwork that he’s not so happy with.

Iva Stinson has long-term care policy with John Hancock that covers all of her costs. Records WRAL Investigates saw show there’s still a couple of years worth of funds in the account.

Stinson admits his mother’s Brookdale payments are about $40,000 behind, but he says the facility’s billing is to blame for the unpaid invoices. He adds the problem has gotten worse recently.

"This has been going well for about four years, but the last year it’s gotten really messed up," David Stinson said.

After months of fighting and hours going through spreadsheets to track payments and non-payments, David Stinson’s frustration turned to disbelief. He said the facility is trying to evict his mom

"Why, instead of straightening it out … evict her?" he questions.

Stinson shared the billing records with WRAL Investigates dating back several years. It clearly shows Brookdale billing John Hancock for a month of service and getting a check about two weeks later. However, as WRAL Investigates saw, the past 12 months or so is a different story.

"They’ll go no billing, it’ll be two or three months of billing, they missed a long enough period that John Hancock assumed she either died or got better and left," Stinson said of the billing irregularities.

According to John Hancock’s process, billing is fairly simple. Just submit an invoice for a full month of service and get paid. WRAL Investigates saw invoices that only covered a couple of days, as well as invoices for some months that were completely missing.

Stinson went to Brookdale Durham leadership and pointed out the trouble spots. He asked them to resubmit corrected invoices, but they didn’t do it.

"All they [have to] do is correct the invoices, send them in, they get paid," he says of the process.

Stinson points to leadership changes as a possible reason behind billing issues. But he says in the past, it’s always been fixed. Now, the facility’s fix is simply kicking out his mom.

"I don’t understand it and that’s what’s very frustrating," he said.

Stinson says if the eviction goes through, he’s afraid what it’ll do to his mom.

"She’s on her last few months as it is, I think it would just expedite that," he said.

WRAL Investigates contacted Brookdale Durham leadership after Stinson signed a waiver allowing the facility to discuss his mother’s case. A corporate spokesperson called WRAL Investigates to get more background on the case.

Stinson says the day after that conversation, the facility started correcting some invoices. However, the threat to evict has not been rescinded.

A hearing on Stinson’s eviction appeal with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services was supposed to take place on Wednesday, but that’s been postponed.