Failure to Complete Required Employee Background and Registry Checks
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to implement its policies and procedures regarding the screening of potential employees prior to employment. Specifically, for three out of five sampled employees—a housekeeper, an activities supervisor, and a dietary aide—there was no evidence that required background checks, including nurse aide registry checks, were completed before hire or rehire. The facility's policy required checks of the Nebraska License Information System, Adult and Child Abuse Registries, criminal history, and the Nebraska State Patrol Sex Offender Registry, but did not explicitly require a nurse aide registry check for all staff with direct and unsupervised access to residents. Record reviews showed that the dietary aide was rehired without any background or registry checks, and both the housekeeper and activities supervisor did not have nurse aide registry checks completed prior to their hire. Human Resources confirmed these omissions and acknowledged being unaware of the requirement for nurse aide registry checks for staff with direct and unsupervised access to residents. This failure had the potential to affect all residents in the facility, which had a census of 39 at the time.