Failure to Verify Nurse Aide Certification Prior to Allowing Work
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that a Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry check was obtained prior to allowing an agency nurse aide to work in the building. Facility policy, last revised July 7, 2023, required that all offers of employment be contingent upon a thorough criminal background check and verification that any required license or certification was active and in good standing. Despite this policy, one agency nurse aide (Employee E3) worked multiple shifts at the facility without the facility obtaining direct verification of her nurse aide certification status from the Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry. The deficiency was identified after the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office notified the facility that the agency nurse aide did not possess a valid nurse aide certification during the time she provided services. The facility had relied on the staffing agency to obtain and verify the nurse aide’s credentials. The facility’s investigation file included an email from the staffing agency stating that the nurse aide had submitted a falsified license document that appeared legitimate, and that the agency’s onboarding team had been accepting uploaded licenses from clinicians rather than independently running verification checks. As a result, the unlicensed agency nurse aide worked several dates at the facility before being removed from the schedule.
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