US Senators Reintroduce Bill Requiring Long-Term Care Workers to Undergo Criminal Background Checks
In the US Senate, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis) have reintroduced a bill mandating that all long-term care employee applicants who would work directly with patients undergo national criminal background checks. The bill is the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2009. Senator Kohl is the chairman of the Special Committee on Aging.
The measure provides a federal component that would mandate that all long-term care employee applicants be screened against the FBI’s national database. This will hopefully decrease the number of nursing home abuse and neglect incidents, which unfortunately seems to be a regular occurrence in a number of US nursing homes and private residences where professional caregivers are sometimes brought in to care for a sick or frail person.
The bill expands upon a three-year demonstration project in seven states that prevented 9,500 applicants with histories of abuse or violent crimes from getting to work with elderly people or people with disabilities. It would create a three-year grant program that would allow the states to obtain funding to pay for FBI background checks. The bill has the approval of nursing home associations, AARP, 41 state attorneys general, and nursing home reform advocates.
Background Checks in US Nursing Homes
Already, there are a number of US states, including Illinois, that require nursing homes to run background checks on potential long-term care employee candidates. Unfortunately, this process doesn’t always weed out everyone who could potentially abuse, neglect, or assault a nursing home resident.
Nursing home abuse and neglect is a serious problem that is affecting the well-being of our sick and our elderly.
Long-term care background checks bill reintroduced in Senate, McKnights.com, March 19, 2009
Senators Reintroduce Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act,The Future of Aging Blog, March 19, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2009, Govtrack.US
Please contact our Chicago nursing home abuse law firm to discuss your Illinois injury case.
