SUMMITTVILLE, Ind. (WXIN) — What started as the discovery of 30 missing pills snowballed into more than 250 pills unaccounted for at an Indiana retirement home.
Employee concerns about the director of nursing at the time, Jennifer Wilson, prompted a Medicaid fraud investigator with the Office of the Indiana Attorney General to look into Summit Health and Living in Summittville.
According to the investigator’s report, the facility was informed of a discrepancy in its narcotic count on Feb. 13. As part of state and federal guidelines, SHL tracks all controlled substances and keeps a narcotic count sheet. Staff is also required to fill out drug destruction forms when medication is taken off the nursing cart but not given to a patient.
Wilson, a registered nurse, was responsible for destroying hydrocodone pills prescribed to a resident. When a fellow administrator followed up with Wilson, she was told the issue “was taken care of.” However, the co-worker could not find the accompanying count sheet.
Court documents show Wilson’s colleague went into her office to find the sheet and instead found 30 hydrocodone pills concealed in a manila folder in the back of a desk drawer.
The next day, the facility’s administrator questioned Wilson, who admitted she had stolen the medication for personal use due to her addiction, according to the documents.
An internal audit found approximately 261 unaccounted-for pills believed to have been stolen. The pills in question were hydrocodone and Percosets and were prescribed to at least four patients.
During the investigation, Wilson revealed she would take pills that had been marked for “discontinuation.” She said she was at SHL for a few months before she gave in to her addiction.
Wilson was booked into the Madison County Jail on charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, possession of a narcotic and furnishing false or fraudulent information.
She was fired from SHL after an internal investigation.
