A review of a 10-state program that supports background check capabilities found that they eliminate up to 8% of long-term care job applicants.
The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General completed surveys and audited grant documentation and financial reports from 2013 and 2016 to check participation levels and screening results. Seven of 10 states implemented all or most of the requirements for full participation.
In all, the OIG review found that of about 1.6 million background checks, about 80,000 (or 5%) resulted in determinations of ineligibility. State-by-state rejection rates ranged from 0.04% in Delaware to 8.07% in Alaska.
The National Background Check Program provides grants to states to develop systems to conduct background checks of state and federal criminal history records for prospective long-term-care employees.
“Background checks are an important safety measure that can help protect the 9 million beneficiaries who rely on long-term-care services each year for safe, dependable care,” the OIG reported on its website in late May. “These checks can prevent individuals with disqualifying histories (e.g., convictions for patient abuse, patient neglect, and theft from patients) from being hired to care for beneficiaries.”
OIG has recommended that The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services encourage states to fully implement its program requirements.
