I recently had the opportunity to speak with our partner 1st Healthcare Compliance about the work we do at PreCheck. In my interview, I discuss PreCheck’s background and how our company has evolved over time to meet the healthcare industry’s needs. Additionally, I examine key recommendations for an effective, compliant healthcare background screening program.

The following represent the key takeaways from my interview:

PreCheck’s Healthcare-Focused Mission

As a healthcare specific screening firm, PreCheck has over 20 years’ experience of exclusively working with healthcare organizations to implement and improve their background screening programs. Over the years, our company has evolved to meet the healthcare industry’s critical need for high quality, efficient background screening.

As a testament to our commitment to serve the healthcare industry, we revised PreCheck’s mission statement in 2016 to better reflect what we aim to accomplish today: “Connecting people with information to advance the quality of healthcare.” At PreCheck, we consider ourselves an extension of a hospital or healthcare organization’s HR team. Our goal is to provide quality background screening that will enable our clients to make better hiring decisions, helping them to impact patient safety and deliver quality care.

The Importance of Screening in Healthcare

While healthcare is one of the most highly regulated industries, there is no legal requirement for hospitals to conduct background checks on their staff. Most healthcare employers, however, choose to do so because it can help mitigate risk and protect their reputation. As background screening practices evolve with changing times, employers across industries are expected to adopt continuous screenings and to conduct background investigations beyond the time of hire.

For healthcare employers, continuous screening is already an industry standard for exclusion screening, specifically. Exclusion screening helps healthcare organizations remain compliant and avoid civil monetary penalties, and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) made monthly screening the best practice in their 2013 Special Advisory Bulletin.

When Outsourcing Screenings Makes Sense

Implementing a thorough, efficient background screening program that’s also effective can be challenging for healthcare employers. Conducting the investigations in-house can take up considerable staff time and resources in most cases. For exclusion screening, specifically, conducting thorough in-house searches can be inefficient for larger organizations when thousands of names need to be checked each month. In these cases, partnering with a third-party provider such as PreCheck can help your organization implement a strong screening program in an efficient and cost-effective manner. At PreCheck, we have the healthcare specific expertise, technology, and partnerships to help streamline your processes, whether that means integrating with your applicant tracking system or providing applicants with the ability to schedule a drug test online.

Background screening programs vary from one healthcare organization to another, but there are key best practices that every employer should follow. Maintaining an effective background screening program can help organizations mitigate risk and avoid civil monetary penalties and federal fines.

Need help updating your healthcare organization’s background screening program? Contact us today to learn how PreCheck can help you optimize your screening processes.