Although I agree that background checks should be done on employees of Assisted Living Facilities, I think that having to have them notarized and having to wait sometimes over a month for these to be returned is a little much. There are times when we send these into the state police that it takes over thirty days to get them back. We have called before when this has happened, tried to explain the person on the phone that we only have thirty days to get these back or we will receive a citation the reply that we have gotten more often than not is "we have 45 days to process this, so that is not our problem" 

Another issue that we have is that we are waiting for the background checks to be returned we are to pay two people to do one person job because the new hire has to be within site of a coworker at all times. We should be able to submit this background check on line and be able to get the results electronically instead of having to wait for the original to be returned to facility.

I have yet to find anyone associated with the work we do - taking care of a frail population - who does not believe we should have detailed/comprehensive background checks completed on individuals we hire. In fact, we do multiple reference checks and a pre-employment drug test (though not a regulation). The challenges we face with using the State Police background system are:

1. The system does not generate a digital response unless the individual has nary a traffic ticket. If the individual has any record at all, even situations that would not affect employment in an ALF, the report is mailed to the community/facility and often takes 30+ days. This is not only challenging for the community/facility but also the individual who must wait to confirm he/she can start work. Most commercial options in existence offer faster turnaround times (48-72 hours).
2. We often hire individuals who have lived in other states and the State Police background check is not helpful in examining a candidate's full record in other states. Other commercial options will pull records nationally in one place. If we hire someone who has lived elsewhere, we end up completing two background checks to ensure we know the person's background. 

I think consideration should be made to amend the regulation to allow ALFs options as to what background check service they use as part of their pre-employment process. 

The background checks need completed. Is there a way to use a faster service? I recently was interviewed for a dbhds licensed job a and had to pay a fee like $80 to get my fingers digitally copied with through background checks returning in days ... even though the cost is high this might be a better option... but please throughly check the background of nursing home workers ...