Criminal Background Checks

When considering the best background screening partner as a healthcare organization, there are several extremely important factors to consider. Comparing background screening vendors can be a difficult task, but you can remain objective by focusing on selecting competitive solutions that can help keep you compliant with current and emerging standards and regulations. This article discusses three key aspects that are critical for any background screening partner selection process.

While hospitals and other healthcare organizations generally aren’t required to run time-of-hire or ongoing background checks, they often do as part of their voluntary due diligence procedures and to mitigate their liability risk. Some states do require background checks for candidates for certain healthcare positions, but organizations typically run them on all staff members.

“Ban the Box” policies have become increasingly more common throughout the U.S. in recent years, with more than 100 states and cities and several large retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart adopting them. Known nationally as the “Ban the Box Campaign,” fair chance policies are designed to give applicants convicted of crimes with an opportunity at a job interview by delaying inquiries into their criminal history until a later stage in the hiring process.

Background check practices in the education industry have received a fair amount of attention in recent years. While health sciences programs conduct background checks on students entering clinical rotations, it’s also important to have a background check program in place for faculty and staff. Whether you plan on updating your institution’s background check policy or are starting from scratch, here are a few items to consider when revising your policy.

I have to admit that this is one of my least favorite topics to write about, but it’s why we are committed to protecting patients from harm through thorough and comprehensive background screening at PreCheck. Although we are only in the second week of February, I read enough stories about bad doctors in the news across the country that I decided to write this article. While the majority of physicians care about their patients, the following four cases prove that some are capable of engaging in some pretty serious criminal behavior.

At first glance, it’s easy to see how FBI background checks could be beneficial in employment background screening. A federal database with fingerprint records might seem like a highly accurate criminal search, but there are many flaws with this type of background check. In fact, I wrote an article in July 2014 explaining why FBI background checks are not enough for healthcare employers.

At PreCheck, we’re passionate about patient care in everything that we do as a background check services provider. While most employers see the value of background checks as a safety mechanism, I thought I would review some of the key benefits an effective background screening process can offer healthcare employers.

There’s been no shortage of stories regarding home healthcare background screening practices in recent years. In fact, here are three noteworthy developments from 2014 alone. As we approach 2015, now may be an opportune time to review your organization’s background screening policies.

I recently discussed how physician criminal cases are often underreported, so having a physician background screening policy in medical staff services can help support better patient care. This week, I would like to focus on the subject of continual or ongoing background screening. Background checks represent a snapshot in time, and what will show up five, two or even a year from now on an applicant’s criminal background history may be different.

It’s that time of the year again and I don’t necessarily mean it due to the upcoming holiday season. On October 31^st, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its Work Plan for the fiscal year 2015, which summarizes new and ongoing reviews and activities the Office of Inspector General (OIG) will pursue in the coming year and beyond. As a healthcare background screening firm, I thought I would highlight four key areas from the 2015 Work Plan that contain background check-related implications for healthcare organizations.