EmployeeScreenIQ

While employers in nearly every industry are now conducting background checks on potential candidates, it is perhaps most important for employees in the healthcare industry to undergo these checks.

Healthcare workers are among the most trusted by the general public - they receive all kinds of confidential information and are often left alone with vulnerable people - and are sometimes literally responsible for holding a patient's life in their hands.

Here is a sample background check for fictional John Doe, who is applying for Las Vegas nursing jobs, as if it were completed by EmployeeScreenIQ:

Social Security number traces (address history search):
-Verifies that the Social Security number provided by Doe is associated with an individual of the same name and that the date of issue range aligns with his birth date.
-Provides an address history that corresponds with the areas of the country where Doe has lived, worked, attended school or spent other significant time.
-Provides a road map for court jurisdictions that should be researched for Doe's criminal records.
-Provides any alias names associated with Doe.

County criminal checks:
-Searches the superior, upper, lower and municipal court records available for Doe in each county.
-Doe's records would include: arrest, date of filing, charges, level of charges, disposition date, final disposition of charges and any applicable sentence or penalty.

Federal criminal court searches:
-Identifies any of Doe's criminal activity prosecuted through the federal court system, including: tax evasion, embezzlement, bank robbery, kidnapping or mail fraud.

National criminal checks:
-Collects information on Doe from county court houses, state departments of incarcerations, state record repositories, probation departments, townships and sex offender registries.

Sex offender registry:
-Reveals any sex offender information about Doe from bureaus of investigation, departments of law enforcement, departments of corrections, departments of justice, departments of public safety, sheriff's departments, state attorney generals' offices and state police.

Education verifications:
-Confirms the schools Doe attended, the dates he attended those schools and the degrees and certificates he was awarded.

Employment verifications:
-Verifies the information on Doe's resume, including dates of employment, starting and ending positions, salaries, reason for termination and eligibility for rehire.

EmployeeScreenIQ's healthcare screening services also includes substance abuse screening, professional license verification and OIG/GSA sanctions check.

Labels: Sample background check

The number of background checks and criminal records checks being conducted by employers is continuing to increase, especially on candidates who would be working in trusted positions, such as those with the elderly, children or other vulnerable people.

This has been most obvious as of late based on the number of schools throughout the country that are implementing rules requiring teachers, volunteers and other personnel to undergo background checks.

Most recently, Boulder Valley School District officials passed a measure requiring all volunteers to undergo a background check. Although the district has long performed background checks on employees, checks on volunteers were never consistent from school to school.

Under the new policy, anyone who regularly volunteers in the school, chaperons overnight trips or coaches must undergo a background check. Those who only volunteer occasionally will have their names cross-checked with Colorado's sex offender registry.

According to an article by KMGH, the school plans to conduct background checks on 1,500 to 2,000 volunteers this year, which will cost a total of about $6,000. While district officials have considered charging volunteers for more in-depth checks, they don't want to discourage anyone from volunteering.

The Dougherty County School System in Albany, Ga., also recently passed a measure requiring all current and future employees to undergo an FBI background check. While the DCSS Board of Education will pay for all current employees' background checks, new hires will be responsible for footing the $53 bill.

According to an article by WFXL, members of the school board decided to require an extensive background check to make sure that no employee working in the school system has a history of being fired from an out-of-state school for something inappropriate or illegal.

Other efforts to implement background checks in schools within the last year include:

• The Francis Howell School District near St. Louis, Mo. is requiring volunteers who have lived in the state for the last five years to undergo a state check every four years, while those who recently moved to the state have to undergo an FBI check.
• The State of Indiana is requiring teachers to undergo a check so it can create a public database of teachers convicted of drug or sex crimes.
• The State of Texas has been enforcing a law passed in 2007 that requires all new non-certified employees to undergo fingerprint checks and all certified educators, substitute teachers and classroom aides to undergo background checks before 2011.
• An audit by the Utah State Legislature found the current background check system flawed and ineffective, causing many lawmakers and education leaders to push for background checks. Proposed measures include: requiring licensed and classified employees to report any arrests or convictions within 48 hours, implementing a personal database that would alert officials of employee arrests, and requiring employees and teachers renewing their licenses to undergo fingerprint testing.
• The British government is considering a bill that would require parents who home school children to undergo a background check.

Labels: Background checks and criminal records

Another state has joined the ranks of those requiring home care aides to undergo a criminal background check (Click here).

The State of Pennsylvania recently implemented a law requiring agencies and registries that send aides into private homes to be licensed by the state Department of Health. Under the new law, agencies have until February 10 to apply for licenses. So far, more than 700 entities have requested applications.

In order to obtain a license, employees of those agencies must pass a criminal background check, obtain child abuse clearances, and be screened for tuberculosis.

According to an article by The Morning Call, agencies employing those aides must use testing or training courses to prove that caregivers are competent. Agencies and independent contractors also must list their services and fees up front.

To hold up its end of the deal, the health department plans to post information online about the agencies that are licensed, so consumers can check them out. There also will be a complaint hotline.

The need for the new regulation law came from growth in the home care industry as the elderly population continues to expand and more seniors remain in their own homes instead of going to nursing homes.

Pennsylvania currently ranks third in the nation for its percentage of people older than 65. Coinciding with that large population, the Pennsylvania Homecare Association went from having 38 home care member agencies during 2001 to having 254 home care member agencies today.

During 2006, the Pennsylvania General Assembly amended the Health Care Facilities Act, which sets standards for hospitals and other healthcare providers, to include home care agencies.

However, it took three years for licensing rules to be established, because the health department solicited input from several interested parties. The department met with disability rights groups, retirement communities, trade groups and nursing home representatives.

Labels: Criminal background check

Parents and others who home school children in the United Kingdom could soon be subjected to background checks and criminal records checks.

A bill recently proposed by the British government would not only give local educational officials the right to determine whether or not they will register a home education program, but also would require parents to undergo background checks before teaching their own children.

If the bill is passed, the United Kingdom would be one of the first countries to require such measures. Neither the United States nor Canada - where the majority of home schooling takes place - require parents to register, and only two states require home schools to be approved.

In most instances, parents only have to inform the proper authorities that they plan on home schooling their children. While some states impose various testing requirements for home schooled students, most encounter no interference from government.

According to an article by the Home School Legal Defense Association, many British citizens are concerned about the implications of the bill proposed by the government. This has caused a parliament committee to conduct a special inquiry to determine whether the bill was conducted properly.

Some officials have claimed the government has adopted an extreme interpretation of the Untied Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by granting authorities the right to access home schooled children and gather their views on home education.

In addition, the bill would allow local authorities to terminate registration if parents choose not to cooperate. It also would give some jurisdiction to the Local Safeguarding Children Boards.

Labels: Background checks and criminal records