Patients with home health aides can rest easy as only 2.7 percent of applicants failed a pre-employment drug test last year. New York state law requires most home health aides and other healthcare workers to pass an employment physical, which includes 8-panel drug tests as well as standard background checks on potential hires. The test checks for amphetamine barbiturate, benzodiazepine, cannabinoids (THC), cocaine, methadone, opiates and phencyclidine in the system. Applicants who test positive for any of these illicit drugs are referred to their recruiter who then decides the next steps in the hiring process.

Although these numbers do not accurately reflect the general population’s survey of drug abuse, it does serve to assure patients that very few drug users are seeking employment in the healthcare industry. Those who do are being intercepted quickly through these pre-employment drug screenings as well as background checks. The numbers for 2012 are down from previous years as well thanks to the comprehensive drug-screening program. In 2010, New York City reported that 16 percent of all New Yorkers abuse an illicit drug and a report in 2007 by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) noted that 3 out of 4 drug users are employed.

In order to protect patients who require home health aides or other types of healthcare employees, many companies require that all applicants submit to a series of employment screening programs like medical assessments, physicals, background checks, and drug tests. Employers of these potential hires must ensure their workers are safe and healthy. Employers in the healthcare industry may be able to immediately disqualify applicants who test positive for drugs, but they must provide justification for denying applicants with a criminal record. The new policies of the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee state that no company can disqualify a candidate because of a criminal history. Instead, they must take a deeper look into the charges and convictions before rejecting the applicant. Applicants who have drug-related or abuse charges can be disqualified for these home health aide positions, but employers are still required to justify their decision and give the applicant an opportunity to explain the charges. For most healthcare employers, a proactive employee drug-testing program weeds out the majority of drug abusers who may also have criminal records.

Although there are still a small number of drug users applying for these healthcare positions, it would appear that these pre-employment drug screenings are keeping them from attaining to these positions. While initial drug tests help businesses from employing drug users, there are no continuous drug tests to ensure that current employers are not taking advantage of their access to pharmaceutical grade drugs. Still, these proactive tests are the first line of defense against employing current and potential drug abusers.

If your company is interested in adding Drug Screening to your pre-employment process, you may want to invest in the services of backgroundchecks.com. They can provide you drug screening services at more than 2,000 occupational health clinics across the country. You can add this feature to your comprehensive background screening package, which might also include the multi-jurisdictional US OneSEARCH product . That search checks more than 450 million criminal records across the nation. By combining these two services, you will have a better picture of the potential employee you are hiring, and you may even be able to weed out some candidates with less than reputable pasts, if those pasts (or their current practices) would make them unsuitable for the position you seek to fill.

About backgroundchecks.com -

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) and cofounder of the Expungement Clearinghouse - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

Source: http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/Low-Incidence-of-Positive-Pre-Employment-Drug-4306230.php

Author: Michael Klazema

The state of Kentucky is taking steps to ensure that all of their elderly residents who live in long term care facilities will be safer by attempting to pass a bill that would require all employees to undergo fingerprint based full criminal background checks. This would constitute a huge improvement over how screening has been done in the past.

Currently, in Kentucky, a person who is employed by a long term care facility must go through a background check that only searches state records. There is no search of national records, nor are the background checks specifically deep or detailed. The newly proposed background checks in the bill will search national databases for any criminal abuse convictions via a combination of name and finger prints. The new system would also use continuous monitoring of employee names which would alert the state and facilities if one of their employees was involved in any crime. The state of Kentucky currently has about 24,000 employees working in long term care facilities and all of them would be subject to these new background checks if this bill is passed.

The cost of the background checks would be taken care of by a grant that the state was given by the Federal government. Along with a state grant, it is thought that the state would be able to pay for these background checks until 2014. At that point, the state facilities would have to pay for the background checks themselves or pass the fee along to applicants and employees. The bill has been passed by the Kentucky state Senate and has been moved on to the state House.

The importance of these types of background checks is evident when you consider the incidence of elder abuse in the country. Third party companies like backgroundchecks.com have long advocated adding nationwide instant searches to complement more traditional single jurisdiction searches in order to cost effectively increase the search coverage and not purposely leave out jurisdictions across the US that are available

They have a wide variety of products to compliment initial screening packages, including a product like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring. Similarly to the program proposed by the Kentucky bill, this system continuously monitors the name and date of birth of all employees. Companies and organizations would be notified when any additional or new criminal records  associated with an employee appeared in the system.

About backgroundchecks.com -

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

For more information about our authors click here.

Source: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/01/2090890/bill-would-require-finger-print.html

A caregiver in California is accused of stealing at least $27,000 from an elderly patient and this is triggering talks on the need for more stringent background checks for those who care for others. Allison Bragger was the primary caregiver for an 86 year old woman who has dementia and arthritis. Bragger used her client’s credit cards, took money right from her bank account and also overcharged for her services. At this time, the state does not have adequate background check procedures according to the elderly woman’s family and they are pushing for changes.

Even when hired through an agency, caregivers in California are not required to go through extremely detailed background checks. Many of these organizations claim they put their employees through a background check, but records show most don’t. There are over 1200 home care companies currently operating in the state that are unregulated, which simply opens the door to having this incident repeat itself with someone else.

It is important to note that California home care companies that are contracted with the government are regulated and they must ensure that all of their employees are undergoing full criminal background checks including fingerprinting. The agencies that are not regulated are those that are private and unaffiliated with the government. Though of lot of these private agencies claim they regulate themselves and check on their staff that works in client’s homes, it is entirely optional and the state does not make sure that this is being done.

Lawmakers in the state say that crimes against the elderly, including theft, are very common in California with about 1500 incidents being reported each month. When complete criminal background checks are not done on employees of private home care agencies, this leaves the door wide open for further abuse.

Companies who want to take initiative before any law is passed can get excellent results by hiring a third party background check company like backgroundchecks.com. This company has several products that can enhance background checks that are being done on caregivers. One of these products is called the  US Offender OneSEARCH, checking for criminal activity that is imperative as a screening tool those who work with the elderly. This product will search sex offender records not only in California, but nationwide.

Taking the steps to make sure that all home care workers in the state are regulated will not only put all home care centers in line with each other, it will help make sure that elderly clients are kept safer.

About backgroundchecks.com -

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

Click here to find out more about our authors.

Source: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/feb/26/caretaker-theft-triggers-calls-for-government/