Evaluation of a Seven State Criminal History Screening Pilot Program for Long-Term Care Workers

Abstract

This article summarizes results from an evaluation of a federally sponsored criminal history screening (CHS) pilot program to improve screening for workers in long-term care settings. The evaluation addressed eight key issues specified through enabling legislation, including efficiency, costs, and outcomes of screening procedures. Of the 204,339 completed screenings, 3.7% were disqualified due to criminal history, and 18.8% were withdrawn prior to completion for reasons that may include relevant criminal history. Lessons learned from the pilot program experiences may inform a new national background check demonstration program.

Keywords:

• elder abuse
• mixed methods
• program evaluation
• long-term care
• health policy
• criminal history processing

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Master Research and Development Contract, number 500-00-0015, T.O. 3. We wish thank the program staff in each of the pilot states, the technical support contract staff at CNAC, the evaluation team staff at both Abt Associates and the University of Colorado Denver, and the program staff of CMS, particularly Susan Larsen and Tom Kress. We deeply appreciate the efforts of our project officers at CMS, Dr. M. Beth Benedict and Mr. Paul J. Boben.

Notes

1. In other states, the applicant's advance fee payment necessitated that all registry checks be completed, even if a disqualification was determined prior to fingerprinting.