LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNITY ENDORSES KOHL-DOMENICI BILL THAT KEEPS CRIMINALS OUT OF LONG-TERM CARE SETTINGS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) today announced the endorsement of S. 1577, the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007, by the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, an organization representing units in 49 states and the District of Columbia charged with prosecuting abuse cases occurring in long-term care facilities. The Medicaid Fraud Control Units have been the vanguard in law enforcement efforts to combat abuse, neglect, and exploitation that tragically occur every day in our nursing homes, residential care facilities, home health programs, and hospitals. The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007 would prevent those with criminal histories from working within long-term care settings by establishing a nationwide system of background checks. 

 

 "This policy makes a lot of sense and would do a lot of good, which is why it is no surprise that it has so much support from advocates and members of Congress," said Senator Kohl. "My colleagues and I are hopeful that we'll see this legislation become law."

 

"This is a welcome endorsement that I hope will bring more attention to this problem and the need for a national background check program. The need to protect the growing senior population in the United States is an issue that we cannot afford to overlook," Senator Domenici said.

 

The legislation creates a coordinated system that includes abuse and neglect registries and state law enforcement registries. It would also add a federal component to the background check by cross-referencing potential employees with the FBI's national database of criminal history records. Under the disorganized, patchwork system of background checks that exists today, employers trying to hire caregivers cannot always determine which applicants have records of abuse or a history of committing violent crimes.  As a result, predators are sometimes hired to take care of our most vulnerable citizens, working in situations where they can cause enormous harm. 

 

The bill currently boasts twelve bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate, including original cosponsors Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), as well as cosponsors Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Bob Casey (D-PA), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). A companion to S. 1577 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year by Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), with Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (D-FL) as original cosponsors.

 

In addition to the endorsement from the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, the bill is also supported by the Elder Justice Coalition, AARP, the American Health Care Association, the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the National Citizen's Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, the Wisconsin Board of Aging and Long-Term Care, the Michigan Department of Community Health, and many other organizations and advocates dedicated to protecting our nation's vulnerable citizens.

 

BACKGROUND ON THE BILL

 

Under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been conducting a pilot program in seven states to implement efficient, equitable systems that cost-effectively screen out certain applicants for employment in long-term care facilities.  Applicants excluded are those whose backgrounds include findings of substantiated abuse and/or a serious criminal history. Forty-one states already require a criminal background check of some variety, mostly at the state level. The pilot states have integrated their systems to coordinate these checks in a single streamlined process and have added a federal background check through the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

 

The results from the pilot programs are thus far very impressive-since its inception, the total number of potentially dangerous individuals kept out of long-term care facilities is 7,271, or 3.7 percent of all applicants. Among the seven states, Michigan boasts the only statewide system and also the most thorough data in terms of the system's results. In the first year of operation, Michigan excluded more than 3,000 people with records of abuse or a disqualifying criminal history. As of April 30, 2007, 625 of these were excluded through a fingerprint check. Twenty-five percent of these exclusions were identified through an FBI check only, a fact that state officials believe indicates that these individuals committed crimes in other states, or have been avoiding prosecution within the state. This statistic reinforces the need for the bill's compulsory FBI check. Expanding this model nationwide would greatly enhance the probability of identifying individuals with criminal backgrounds who can now easily escape detection.