HHS OIG Report Finds Over 90% of Nursing Home Have Employed Criminals

criminal_nursinghomesBackground checks are an important part of employment screening processes required by states but a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General finds that 92% of nursing facilities have employed at least one individual with at least one criminal conviction.  The study compiled from analysis of criminal records maintained by the FBI too a random sample of 260 nursing facilities from the universe of 15,728 Medicare-certified nursing facilities and requested data on all individuals who were employed by the sampled nursing facilities on June 1, 2009.  Most convictions were property crimes committed prior to employment at the facility.

The report make recommendations for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) develop background check procedures based upon duty classifications and access to patients.  CMS plans to work through the National Background Check Program to develop of convictions that disqualify individuals from employment, as well as defining whether any of those conviction types can be assumed to be mitigated because of the passage of time and which convictions should never be considered mitigated or rehabilitated.

For the full report, visit Nursing Facilities’ Employment of Individuals with Criminal Convictions

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