People who are sick and worried trust their health care providers to help them and to do no harm. However, a recent investigation by the Indianapolis Star revealed that perhaps patients’ faith should not be blind. The investigation found licensed nurses who had previous criminal convictions that they failed to report to the licensing board, including a conviction for felony drunk driving and another for intimidation for waving a loaded gun at a driver.
Currently hospitals and nursing homes perform background checks on their unlicensed staff, but rely on licensed health care professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and dentists to voluntarily report any convictions when they apply for licenses.
Fortunately, someone is looking out for patients. A recently proposed bill by Indiana State Senator Patricia Miller, a registered nurse herself, would require federal background checks for health care workers when they apply for their licenses. It would further require prosecutors to notify the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA) if a license holder were convicted of a crime.
A conviction would not necessarily prevent a license from being issued. That decision would be left to the IPLA, but as to whether or not a conviction would be a legitimate reason to reject an applicant or dismiss a current employee is not addressed. Presumably, it would depend on the nature of the crime for which a worker was convicted.
Health care workers come into contact with people who are often at their most vulnerable. In hospitals, nursing homes and especially in patients’ homes, doctors, nurses and other licensed health care professionals have access to their patients’ most personal and financial information. These patients should be protected from caregivers with prior convictions for negligence, stealing, drug abuse, identity theft or worse.
The loudest argument against Miller’s proposal has been that funding the mandatory background checks will cost the Indiana taxpayers too much money. Miller’s proposed bill nullifies this argument by placing the financial responsibility for the checks on the license applicants. The expense to the state for having prosecutors notify IPLA of new convictions would also be minimized by utilizing an existing system by which prosecutors notify the Bureau of Motor Vehicles of traffic violations.
The process of obtaining a background check would be relatively inexpensive and easy for health care professionals seeking licenses, costing about $75 and requiring applicants to submit their fingerprints to the Indiana State Police.
Given that the state has the final authority to issue licenses it should also accept the responsibility of ensuring that those who receive them are not threats to patients.