OIG Issues Report On Home Health Background Checks

The OIG surveyed the States to identify the State requirements for conducting background checks for prospective HHA employees, including the job positions for which States require HHAs to conduct background checks, and the types of convictions that States consider to be disqualification for HHA employment. They surveyed 50 States and the District of Columbia and found the following:

 41 States require HHAs to conduct background checks on prospective employees.

10 States have no background-check requirement, buy of the 4 of the 10 States reported that they have plans to implement background-check requirements in the future.

Of the 41 States that require background checks, 15 States require HHAs to receive the results of background checks before individuals can begin employment and 26 States allow individuals to work while the results of their background checks are pending. 15 States require additional background checks of employed individuals subsequent to the initial checks. 35 States specify convictions that disqualify individuals from employment, and 16 States allow an individual who has been disqualified from employment to submit an application to have his/her conviction(s) waived.

You can probably look for CMS regulations regarding a national background check in the future.

For more information please us the following link: https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-14-00131.pdf