managerial pos w/ criminal history

sohappytobe · November 2003

Anyone know if and what the consequences are of hiring someone who has direct care of patients and who has a criminal background history in the medical (psychiatric) field? Since I've joined this company and am in the process of getting perosnnel files in order, I've had to run background checks since that had never been done and many have come up with histories such as assault and battery and theft. One holds a position in administration. I'm not certain if it simply liability for the company should anything occur if it is a violation of some federal/state/medicare regulation.

Crout · November 2003

You need to check the State regs that govern your facility. I'm sure that your agency is licensed by the State. Call their regional office and request a copy of their regs. They should give you the guidelines for hiring and retaining people with criminal records.

Rockie · November 2003

Sohappy: I can tell you from vast experience in the healthcare industry that if you hire someone with direct patient care that has this type of conviction in their background, it puts your organization at great liability. If you "knew or should have known" that this person could be a direct threat to patients (via background investigation or, in some cases lack of background checks), then you are guilty of negligent hiring practices and if you keep someone in your employ with this record, you are guilty of "negligent retention".

Excellent practice to run these checks especially in healthcare. Make sure you run a nationwide check on healthcare workers. They can have a clean record in your particular state, but can have a blemished record in another.

Pork · November 2003

SOHAPPYTOBEHERE: And we are so happy you are here. I suggest you approach your retained attorney on your particular situations. Wish I had some expertise experience to help you but I have not and do not plan on doing background checks to that depth, except for my truck drivers and then it is only to determine if he/she is a reasonable briving risk and insurable.

PORK

marc · November 2003

Use your imagination with respect to the exposure. I think Rockie pointed the way. We work with children and families and do a thorough Federal and State background check. You can imagine the exposure (no pun intended) if a convicted pedophile or other persons practicing deviant behavior were to have access to young ones through their association with our agency. And we have contact with thousands of chilren so get your calculator out and start multiplying. I would suspect you have similar multipliers in the health care industry. Spending a few dollars here to be thorough is well worth the money.

Don D · November 2003

But, what do you do know, given the information that you have, I think is the question. Pork nailed it. Based on the culture there and the position of the person you mentioned, you may well be risking your employment; but, you have no alternative except to turn the information over to the organization's attorney. You've been given excellent advice as to what you must do going forward. I'm a bit surprised that oversight agencies such as the joint accreditation commission, medicaid, state welfare, etc. haven't already discovered the lack of backgrounds. Those organizations/agencies do come in and review personnel files. In this state, given the facts you lay out, the State Attorney General's office would have six black Crown Vics sitting in the parking lot.

Rob S · November 2003

Have these employees signed a release at some point for you to do a criminal background search on them?

We have recently started doing criminal background searches in our hiring process, and I was told that you need to have a release separate from the application for many types of searches. It would not be good to terminate someone because of information you found out during a search that you were not aloud to do.

Rob

Don D · November 2003

Sorry; but it would be much better to do that than to risk the whole facility being immediately closed down by the authorities, which is what she faces now. You don't roll the dice when your organizations very existence is teetering on the edge of closure.

sohappytobe · November 2003

I've gotten releases from everyone, yes. The problem is that the facility is a partial dual diagnosis "hospital" but it doesn't fall under the umbrella of DHH nor DSS. It's in a gray area somewhere there and no governmental agency wants to claim it as "theirs" and so the sky is the limit and anything (and I mean anything) goes except for the monitoring by medicare (billing) and the fire marshall.

By the way, I was terminated for bringing these facts up to the management company (going over the head of the Program Director and Director of Nurses). I guess they had just about enough of me. They perceived me as a threat. Thank you all for your input, you've been a lifeline to me.

System · November 2003

I am so sorry!!!!!! please keep up with the forum!
I can sympathise too. I have been nagging upper management about writing people up for performence issues that cost the company substantial amounts of money. On friday they wrote me up for an offhand remark that I made to a store manager that had no negative connotation to it at all. I was so shocked I just signed and left (oh yeah, they ambushed me as I was running to catch a train)
I know they think I am a pest and would probably love to get rid of me. Luckily two new Board Members were just elected who believe in a positive HR department so I think things will turn around soon.
Good luck, keep in touch!

Parabeagle · November 2003

Can they spell W-H-I-S-T-L-E-B-L-O-W-E-R S-T-A-T-U-T-E? I'm surprised they terminated you over this.

Crout · November 2003

THEY FIRED YOU FOR THIS?!?! Holy cow. That really stinks. I'm very sorry. Find a good labor attorney right now and tell your story. The State might be a little bit disorganized, but there's GOT to be a licensing body at the State level that governs your facility, and there has to be hiring criteria. That's what your attorney will need to know. When you say that no one wants to take responsibility, does that mean you spoke to some idiot bureaucrat, or that you know for certain no regulations exist? I sincerely hope it works out for you.

sohappytobe · November 2003

DHH and DSS surveyors actually came out to survey the facility for licensing and before they were finished, they announced that we facility did fall within their boundaries and so they left. Now the facility is in waiting to hear from "someone". Meantime, they do what they want to and get away with it, it appears. Thanks for the good wishes. I'm looking into what entities to contact. I'm certain that SOMEONE is bound to give a hoot since it does deliver patient care. I'll keep you all posted.

managerial pos w/ criminal history

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