There are many reasons why businesses of all shapes and sizes should have a background check policy for new applicants. But healthcare companies have very specific and special requirements due to industry regulations practice.
The biggest spotlight is on healthcare companies who work with Medicare or Medicaid. Since these two programs are considered a government contract, employers must check federal and state exclusion lists for individuals barred from participating in these programs. The most common exclusion lists come from the OIG and GSA searches, but there are many more departments that maintain their own. Companies must also find out if their state maintains an exclusion list as well.
As a good practice, employers will check the exclusion list once when hired, and monthly as long as the individual is working. Employers are still held liable in case an employee winds up on the list after employment. There are automated programs such as FACIS Exclusion Searches that checks for an individual’s addition to the list.
Besides these regulated requirements, healthcare companies treat extremely vulnerable patients. This attracts individuals with a history of theft and fraud, as well as sexual offenses. It is not uncommon to see employee with criminal backgrounds repeat these crimes on new patients. A standard background check screening should look into such criminal pasts as well as specialty searches such as sexual offender registries.
