Elder Law

More Thorough Background Checks Proposed for Illinois Nursing Home Employees

By Levin & Perconti

The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday on proposed changed to background check requirements in Illinois. The legislation would affect employees at many types of facilities including homes for the disabled and nursing homes for the elderly.

Most employees at these homes are already required to perform criminal background checks before they are hired. The licenses of those applicants must also be verified before they can begin work. Yet, there is more extensive checking that could be conducted to ensure that the employees who serve these most vulnerable community members are willing and capable of providing proper care. Most importantly these facilities are currently not required to check whether the applicant has been cited in the past for any form of abuse. Those past citations most likely would never show up on regular criminal background checks.

Proposed legislations would mandate that additional requirement. One motivation for the new law is the recent revelations made about treatment of many developmentally disabled children at a Chicago nursing facility?Alden Village North.

Much time remains before the bill is up for a final vote. However, many lawmakers are already voicing support for the additional check, with many hoping it applies to both children?s facilities as well as those nursing homes catering to elders.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on January 06, 2011 (boomark / email).