Resident Fund Management Service

In 1981, National Datacare developed the Resident Fund Management Service as a full-service solution to handling resident funds. Not only does RFMS provide banking solutions such as direct deposit and direct debits, it provides the most complete resident fund accounting system available. RFMS is continually enhanced to handle the ever-changing needs of the long-term care, banking, and computer industries. Today more than 10,000 long-term care facilities use National Datacare to manage the funds of more than half a million residents.

How RFMS works

1. 1The facility moves its existing resident fund account to a participating financial institution.
2. 2The facility completes an account application for each resident and indicates which payments to direct deposit. Residents may elect a “transferring” account in which care cost payments are automatically debited from their recurring income.
3. 3National Datacare electronically enrolls each resident’s federal recurring payments, such as Social Security, for direct deposit. For private pensions, RFMS contains enrollment forms for over 500 different benefit payers.
4. 4Each day a direct deposit is received, a detailed report is forwarded to the facility. Transferring accounts split automatically: the resident retains their personal allowance and the care cost portion is credited to a separate facility account.
5. 5Funds received locally, such as family member checks, can be scanned into RFMS and deposited electronically, deposited by mail, or brought to the nearest branch — no more time spent on bank trips.
6. 6Withdrawals are keyed into RFMS and released to vendors via check or ACH from a controlled disbursement account. All transactions are tied together, so your trust account is always reconciled and audit-ready.
7. 7When a resident leaves the facility or passes away, all future direct deposits are automatically returned to their source — including any federal payments the resident was not entitled to.
8. 8The RFMS Family companion portal lets family members monitor their loved one’s account at any time: view statements, set email and text alerts, deposit funds electronically, and designate a bank account for bill payments.

Built for the business office and state survey

Federal rules at 42 CFR 483.10(f)(10) set out how skilled nursing facilities must hold and account for the personal funds residents deposit with them, and resident trust handling is reviewed during every state survey. RFMS gives the business office manager a single system of record for that work, so the ledger, the bank account, and the resident statements always agree.

• Personal needs allowance (PNA) tracking, with care-cost amounts split from each resident’s allowance automatically
• An individual ledger for every resident, with interest allocation to individual accounts and IRS 1099 interest reporting
• Quarterly resident statements, and individual statements on request
• Bank reconciliation that balances every resident statement to the bank statement at any time
• Discharge and deceased-resident fund disposition, with future direct deposits returned to their source automatically
• Audit-ready records that help reduce state survey citations for resident funds

Frequently asked questions