The healthcare industry faces unique challenges when it comes to background checks. Here are some tips to help ensure a thorough and effective screening process.
To protect patients and employees, a comprehensive background check is imperative for healthcare employers. This includes checking for sanctions, which can bar an individual from participating in federal healthcare programs.
Conduct a Criminal Background Check
When it comes to healthcare, lives are on the line. That’s why thorough background checks are necessary to ensure compliance, mitigate risk, and protect patients and healthcare workers.
Healthcare background checks should include a national criminal records search, a state and federal sex offender registry report, social security number validation and identity verification, motor vehicle reports, and professional licensing searches. Background checks for the healthcare industry should also incorporate continuous criminal monitoring, which scans the country for new arrests 24/7 and alerts you if any red flags are raised in the future.
Medical professionals may have access to powerful prescription drugs, so a drug screen is important in any healthcare workplace. A background check can reveal a history of substance abuse, which is why every candidate for a medical position must go through a thorough pre-hire screening process. If you hire someone with a drug problem, it could put your patients at risk. It can also damage your reputation as a company. In the worst-case scenario, it could even lead to a loss of life.
Conduct a Driver’s License Check
Healthcare is a high-stakes industry that demands great skill, experience, discretion, attention to detail, and ethical decision-making from medical professionals. Mistakes by a doctor can have devastating consequences for patients, from lifelong complications to permanent disability to death.
Likewise, abuse by nurses and other healthcare workers is a serious concern that needs to be addressed with a thorough screening process that examines education, licensing, professional references, criminal history, drug testing, and other critical metrics.
Healthcare background checks are typically more thorough than other kinds of background checks. They assess metrics specifically designed to identify healthcare professionals with the right skills, training, and experience to perform their roles. This includes conducting alias searches — typically by way of Social Security number search – to uncover any alternative names an employee or applicant has used. It also includes running sanctions checks — exclusions imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services that exclude individuals (and hospitals) from participation in federal healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. These are known as “medical sanctions” and can be a critical indicator of eligibility to work in the healthcare industry.
Conduct a Drug Screening
Healthcare workers need to be clear-minded and free of drug abuse. This is important because of the potentially serious consequences for patients if healthcare professionals make errors or abuse their positions. In some cases, these errors can result in lifelong complications or even death for patients.
As a result, background checks should include drug screenings to ensure that new hires are ready for the responsibilities of their jobs. Depending on the type of position, these tests may be conducted before hiring, during routine testing programs, or in response to reasonable suspicion. Urine test results are typically the preferred method for medically mandated workplace drug testing.
Another check unique to the medical field is a sanction search, which reveals any healthcare employees or entities banned from federal healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. This is an important check for healthcare employers to perform, as it ensures that they are not hiring someone who could pose a security risk or cause a loss of patient data. Healthcare organizations should also follow cybersecurity best practices for the systems they use and for their third-party vendors.
Conduct a Licensing Check
Healthcare facilities need to hire only the most qualified workers, especially when lives are at stake. That’s why it is vital to implement thorough and accurate healthcare background checks for employees, contractors, and vendors.
These checks include education and employment verification, a multi-jurisdictional national criminal record check, a national sex offender search, social security number validation or identity confirmation, motor vehicle records, credit history checks, and more. Depending on the role, healthcare background checks may include a federal exclusion search to identify individuals sanctioned by the Office of Inspector General who cannot be reimbursed with Medicare or Medicaid funds.
Another key step in a comprehensive background screening process is continuously monitoring and updating reportable records. Having an automated program that monitors all of these records for current and prospective employees can save valuable time and resources for HR departments while keeping healthcare facilities compliant and safe. A service such as First Advantage’s Criminal Records Monitoring is ideal for this industry, allowing hospitals and other medical facilities to be alerted to all changes in reportable records and to take action on any potential issues quickly.
Conduct a Reference Check
Healthcare professionals are entrusted with the health and safety of vulnerable patients, so thorough background checks are essential. These checks verify candidates’ qualifications, uncover gaps in employment, and reveal any criminal records that could disqualify them from a role in the industry, including violent crimes, theft, fraud, drug-related offenses, and even sexual or elder abuse.
Education verification is also important for healthcare hiring, especially since doctors and other medical professionals must complete extensive educational requirements to work in their fields. Verifying a candidate’s education is a quick and easy way to ensure they are qualified for the job.
Additionally, a good reference check should include questions that allow you to see and hear a potential hire’s responses. This helps you gauge their enthusiasm and spot any hesitation or falsehoods that can easily slip through the cracks when using email for reference checks. In addition, you can ask for a phone or video call interview to better understand an applicant’s demeanor and tone of voice. This can be a key indicator of their character and how they will interact with your staff and patients.
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