By Thomas Ahearn, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) News Editor

Proposed legislation in the state of Kentucky would require criminal background checks for all private long-term care facility employees to help to protect elderly and vulnerable Kentucky nursing home residents from being preyed upon by dangerous criminals.

Senate Bill 44 – introduced by Senator Tom Buford (R-Jessamine) – would prohibit any Kentucky long-term care facility, nursing home, or an assisted living community from employing a person who had been convicted of a felony related to:

  • Theft;
  • Abuse or sale of illegal drugs;
  • Abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an adult; or
  • A sexual crime.

Current Kentucky law requires criminal background checks for all employees at state-run facilities, but only requires criminal background checks for those employees who provide direct care to residents at privately run nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. S.B. 44 – which is currently under review by the Senate Judiciary Committee – would extend the criminal background checks to all employees at private nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

As reported previously on ESR News, many states are penalizing nursing homes that employ workers with serious criminal records. Recently, an Indiana an operator of nursing homes was hit with $376,000 in penalties for employing individuals at nursing homes who either had been convicted of criminal offenses or stripped of their licenses.

To assist nursing homes and other long-term care facilities conduct safe hiring programs, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – a leading provider of background checks accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) – offers a OIG/GSA Name Search which searches the OIG (Office of the Inspector General) Excluded List and GSA (General Services Administration) Sanctions Report for individuals and businesses excluded or sanctioned from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federally funded programs.

Employment Screening Resources ESR Home Health Care Check provides background screening services specializing in home health care workers in private homes or elder care facitlites. For more information, visit https://www.esrcheck.com/services/homehealthcare.php.

For more information on background checks, visit Employment Screening Resources at https://www.esrcheck.com.

Founded in 1996 in the San Francisco area, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) wrote the book on background checks with ‘The Safe Hiring Manual’ by ESR founder and President Lester Rosen and is accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) . To learn more about Employment Screening Resources, visit https://www.esrcheck.com or contact Jared Callahan, ESR Director of Client Relations, at 415.898.0044 or [email protected].

Sources:

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/11RS/SB44.htm

http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebkentucky-nursing-home/abuse-neglect-attorney/prweb5009674.htm

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