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Senate: Time to tighten background checks

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, June 14, 2007

A bill that would prevent potential employees with criminal histories from working in long-term care was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week by members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Sen. Pete Dominici (R-NM) called the current system for background checks "disorganized" and "patchwork," according to United Press International (UPI). The new bill, of which Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is also a co-sponsor, would join the resources of abuse and neglect registries with state law enforcement records, and would also require potential employees to be cross referenced with the FBI's national criminal history database.

The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 engendered a CMS pilot program in seven states to examine cost-effective measures for tightening background checks. Michigan is the only one of those seven with a statewide system, but 41 U.S. states require some sort of criminal background check for long-term care employees. The bill's advocacy group support includes the AARP, UPI reported.

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