The U.S. Department of Health insurance and Human Services' Office of Inspector General investigated the number of individuals with criminal records working in nursing homes. To conduct the investigation, the OIG selected a stratified random sample of 260 nursing facilities from more than 15,000 Medicare-certified nursing facilities and performed Federal Bureau of Investigation background checks on the employees of those 260 nursing homes. Long-term care facilities like hospices weren't investigated, and contract workers at nursing facilities were also not considered.
Study Finds Most Nursing Homes Have Employees With Criminal Convictions says Los Angeles Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyer Steven Peck.
Based on a government report, a lot more than 90 percent of nursing facilities have employees with criminal records. The current patchwork system of criminal-background checks may bring about the high number of individuals with criminal convictions working in nursing homes, and it leaves vulnerable nursing-home residents at risk of harm.
Criminals in Nursing Homes
The analysis says, in 2009, 92 percent from the nursing homes employed at least one person with a criminal conviction. Further, almost 1 / 2 of the nursing homes employed five or even more people with criminal convictions.
At one facility with a total of 164 employees, 34 employees had a minumum of one conviction each, said Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Seven registered sex offenders were working at five different nursing homes, and 13 percent from the employees with criminal convictions were found guilty of crimes against people. The majority of the employees' convictions, 44 percent, were for crimes against property such as shoplifting, burglary or writing bad checks.
Medicare and Medicaid Regulations
Federal regulations report that nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments cannot employ people convicted of "abusing, neglecting or mistreating" nursing-home residents and can't employ people entered in state nurse-aide registries for neglect, abuse or mistreatment of nursing-home residents, including theft of resident property.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' guidelines suggest that nursing homes "must be thorough within their investigations of the past histories of people they are considering hiring." However, criminal-background checks are not required by federal law. Individual states may create their own background-check standards, but the insufficient centralized screening of nursing-home employees puts nursing-home residents at risk.
Patient Safety Risks
Currently, only ten states require pre-employment state and FBI criminal-background checks. Because only the FBI background check reports criminal convictions in multiple states, someone with a conviction in one state may find employment in a elderly care in a different state that does not use FBI criminal-background checks.
Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said the current background-check system is "haphazard, inconsistent and full of gaping holes in many states. Predators can certainly evade detection throughout the hiring process, securing jobs that permit them to assault, abuse and steal from defenseless elders."
Additionally, AARP spokesman Jim Dau said, "There are still potentially-dangerous gaps in the system accustomed to determine who will be responsible for providing care for many people during vulnerable points within their lives."
Since nursing-home employees often work unsupervised in close connection with people who are less in a position to protect their property and defend themselves, a background-check system -- or lack thereof -- which allows people with criminal convictions to slip through the cracks puts family members at risk for theft and, even worse, maltreatment or nursing-home abuse.
National Criminal record check Program
On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. According to the OIG report, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires the Secretary of Health insurance and Human Services to implement a nationwide program for individual states to conduct both state and FBI background checks for nursing-home employees with immediate access to nursing-home residents.
Because criminal convictions are occasionally under different names, the National Background Check Program will work fingerprint-based searches of state and federal criminal-conviction records. However, FBI records generally do not indicate whether the victim of the crime was a nursing-home resident. Therefore, additional information on a potential nursing-home employee's criminal conviction is necessary.
Improvements to nursing-home employee screening ought to be made quickly so elderly and vulnerable residents are not harmed by people with criminal convictions. If you suspect that a relative or loved one in a nursing home might be suffering neglect, abuse or maltreatment from nursing-home employees, contact an experienced nursing home attorney in your area to discuss your legal options.
Although elderly residents are awarded certain nursing home rights, some facilities, either unknowingly or intentionally, may violate these basic rights. If you suspect your loved one is being abused in a nursing home or otherwise deprived of their nursing home resident rights, such as bed sores, dehydration, malnutrition, infection, under staffing, physical abuse, you should immediately contact us toll free at 1.866.999.9085 or on-line at www.thepecklawgroup.com for a free thorough case review and evaluation. This case review is being offered at no cost and shall help determine whether you should take legal action on behalf of your elder / dependent adult loved one. We Will Help You!!!
