Failure to Timely Review Background Checks and Conduct Reference Checks
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to implement its Abuse Prohibition policy by not reviewing a newly hired employee's criminal background investigation (CBI) report in a timely manner. Employee #4, a dietary aide, was hired without a complete review of their CBI, which later revealed two felony offenses for burglary and three misdemeanor offenses, including two for theft, from 2014 to 2016. The CBI search for New Jersey was conducted before the hire date and showed no offenses, but the searches for other states and county offenses were completed after the hire date, revealing the offenses. The employee worked several shifts before being suspended and eventually terminated after the offenses were discovered. Additionally, the facility did not conduct reference checks for eight out of ten newly hired employees reviewed. There was no documentation indicating that reference checks were attempted for these employees. The Director of Nursing acknowledged that reference checks had not been consistently performed prior to the employment of a new Scheduler three months ago. The facility's policies require screening potential employees for a history of misappropriation of property and checking at least two professional references prior to hire, which were not adhered to in these cases.
Plan Of Correction
1. Corrective Action of Areas Affected: Employee #4 was previously [R] and references have been obtained for employee #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The facility cannot retroactively obtain any background checks or references on any employee no longer employed with the facility. The [R] re-inserviced on ensuring references and criminal background checks are obtained in accordance with Federal/State regulations in order to fully protect residents from potential abuse. 2. Other Areas Affected: All residents have the potential to be affected by this deficient practice. An audit of all current in-house employee files has been conducted to verify background checks and references have been obtained and any items missing have been obtained. 3. Systemic Changes to Prevent Future Occurrences: A new hire checklist has been implemented to include background checks and reference checks prior to employment. The Staffing Coordinator/HR is verifying items are obtained prior to employees beginning Orientation. 4. Monitoring of Corrective Action: The Staffing Coordinator/HR will complete a weekly audit of new employee hires to verify references and background checks have been completed x4 weeks, then monthly x2 months. Results of the audits will be reported at the monthly Quality Assurance Improvement Meetings for review and recommendations.