New rules to screen nursing home workers set
Gov. Steve Beshear announced Friday broad new rules to better screen people who work with elderly and vulnerable people in areas such as nursing homes and home health and personal care.
Starting Jan. 1, employers will be required to run national background checks on anyone hired to work in such occupations through an electronic fingerprint check by the FBI. Currently, such employees undergo a state criminal background check that does not detect out-of-state violations that could prevent someone from caring for vulnerable adults.
"Protecting the elderly and other individuals residing in these facilities is not only important - it is our duty as state leaders," Beshear said in announcing the new regulations.
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The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services has been working for several years to set up the electronic background check system known as Kentucky Applicant Registry and Employment Screening (KARES) with a federal grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The system already is operating as a pilot project with 35 electronic scanners at sites around the state. About 60 employers have volunteered to use KARES to screen job applicants, Maryellen Mynear, the cabinet's inspector general, told a legislative committee in August.
Mynear, whose office regulates nursing homes and other licensed facilities, said a particular problem for Kentucky employers is identifying criminal backgrounds of job applicants who come from other states and don't disclose convictions.
Using KARES, one Northern Kentucky nursing home identified an applicant from Ohio who had convictions for domestic violence, assault and stalking, Mynear said at the hearing. In another instance, the same facility used KARES to discover that an applicant had served five years in prison in Maryland for sexual abuse and battery.
Another advantage, she said, is that the electronic system also can check other abuse registers, such as the state child abuse registry and sex offender listings, providing a single source for employers who now must check with multiple agencies.
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The new rules, filed as emergency regulations Friday by the Beshear administration, won praise from a nursing home safety advocate, Wanda Delaplane, whose father died in 2002 in a Frankfort nursing home from an untreated bowel obstruction.
"I think it's great," she said. "I really commend them for doing it."
Delaplane said it also would make for a safer working environment for employees.
Tim Veno, president of LeadingAge Kentucky, an association of about 100 mostly nonprofit facilities that provide services for elderly and disabled people, said his members will need to review details of the regulations. But he said his organization generally supports efforts to better screen employees.
"Our members are supportive of strong screening for our staff that we hire," he said. "We want to hire the best workers that we can."
Because the new rules were filed as emergency regulations, Gov.-elect Matt Bevin, who takes office Dec. 8, could withdraw them if he chooses.
Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said Friday the incoming governor had no comment on the new regulations.
"We are focused on the transition process and will carefully evaluate all policy decisions with our cabinet officials and key stakeholders," she said.
The new rules also are subject to review by the General Assembly.
They will apply to about 1,300 providers of care for elderly or disabled adults. In addition to Kentucky's nearly 300 nursing homes, the rules will apply to residential centers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities, adult day programs, assisted living facilities, personal care homes and agencies that provide staff for such services or programs.
While some licensed professionals such as nurses and physicians already undergo fingerprint background checks, the new regulations would apply to other workers such as nursing assistants and personal caregivers.
At the August hearing, Mynear outlined several advantages of the new system.
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»It's faster. Currently employers must submit information about applicants on paper and wait two to three weeks for a response. The electronic KARES system provides results in 48 to 72 hours.
»It's more thorough. Rather than a state-only criminal background check based on a name and address, it uses the FBI fingerprint database to identify criminal convictions nationwide.
»It provides a "rapback" feature, meaning that once an applicant's information is entered, the system updates it and notifies an employer if an employee is later convicted of an offense that would disqualify the individual.
The state initially started the project with 35 scanners in state offices where job applicants can go to have their fingerprints read electronically. But because of concerns by some providers about accessibility, the state obtained a federal grant of $689,000 to double the number of scanners and now has 70 available statewide, Beshear said.
Veno said his organization had expressed concern about having only 35 scanners, fearing that too few might discourage applicants without transportation from traveling to the nearest site to be fingerprinted.
"We're pleased to see the doubling of scanners," he said. "Inspector General Mynear has really worked hard to address the concerns that we have."
Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at (502)582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.