Excerpt from: McKnight's (click for full article)
Long-term care providers and states should agree on what a "direct access employee" is and whether that person has a criminal conviction that should keep him or her from working in a nursing home, according to a a recently released report from the Long-Term Care Criminal Convictions Work Group.
The work group consists of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services employees and volunteers from 11 state agencies. It was formed in response to a March 2011 report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, which found 92% of nursing facilities employ at least one person with a criminal conviction.
Yet the need for direct care workers is expected to brow by 34% by 2015, which means long-term care providers want some flexibility in who they hire. CMS asked the group to formulate a common definition of direct access employee and recommending which convictions should disqualify someone from becoming this type of worker.
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