Gov. Beshear Implements Mandatory National Background Checks for Nursing Home Employees, Others Caring for Kentucky's Most Vulnerable Adults

Statement

Governor Steve Beshear today announced that he has signed an emergency regulation requiring certain health care providers to obtain national criminal background checks on new employees and other individuals who provide direct one-on-one care to elderly residents or patients in order to obtain or renew the facility's license to operate in the Commonwealth.

Effective Jan. 1, 2016, approximately 1,300 providers will be required to obtain national background checks for all new employees. These providers include nursing homes, intermediate care facilities and Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID); adult day health care programs; assisted living communities; home health agencies; hospice; personal services agencies; providers of home and community-based services; personal care homes; and staffing agencies, including nursing pools that have contracts to provide staff to one or more of the listed employer types.

"Protecting the elderly and other individuals residing in these facilities is not only important -- it is our duty as state leaders," said Gov. Beshear. "All too often, these vulnerable citizens become victims of the very individuals who are supposed to be caring for them. This regulation, based upon a federal law allowing these background checks, will ensure we are able to thoroughly track the history of anyone who has committed such an offense, whether it occurred in Kentucky or out of state, and ensure they will not be working at health care facilities in the Commonwealth."

Source