7 Signs Your Healthcare Background Checks Aren’t Compliant

Businesses like government institutions and hospitals have unique guidelines and regulations that they must follow to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Processes like background checks ensure the safe development of these institutions.

When a business doesn’t follow these regulations, certain challenges will arise, along with fines, penalties, and restrictions. The healthcare industry is one of the most important institutions in the country because it determines the quality of a person’s life.

These signs that your healthcare background checks aren’t compliant will help you deliver better results and make the necessary adjustments to a situation. Compliance is important for many institutions, and failing to remain compliant could jeopardize the organization’s reputation and get it in trouble.

Incomplete Verifications

To work for certain industries, a candidate must have a list of certifications and verifications to prove that they have the right qualities and capacities for the job. A background check will verify if the candidate has completed these certifications. However, an incomplete verification could put an institution’s safety on the line.

Some common incomplete verifications are education history and proof of past employment. Education is essential, especially in the healthcare industry, as workers need specific accreditations, certifications, and experiences.

People change careers constantly to find new paths to develop their skills and gain knowledge. However, they need to have proper guidance for some jobs. Past employment will tell an employer how reliable and knowledgeable an employee is. Not completing a background check and trusting someone fully without verifications could cause problems in the future.

Criminal Records

A professional background search from a reputable company focuses on different aspects of a person’s life, especially criminal records. When it comes to the healthcare industry, this background search is essential. After all, one person’s wrong practices could put the whole organization at risk.

Not having information on criminal records could jeopardize compliance with a background check because of its incomplete service. The information you receive from a background check varies depending on the business you hire to deliver those results. That’s one of the reasons why you need to hire a reputable and experienced company to perform your background checks.

Criminal records are among the most important details from a person’s past. While a criminal record shouldn’t automatically disqualify a candidate, a clean check is ideal. These types of records differ in severity, so focus on actions that are recurrent and could affect the job they’re applying for.

Missing or Expired Certifications

The healthcare industry is constantly evolving and implementing new techniques and procedures with the help of technology and research. A background check can provide information on education history, necessary certifications, and relevant developments. This can ensure that the person with the necessary knowledge and education gets the job.

Certifications can ensure that a person has the proper training needed for a job, which is especially important in the healthcare industry. However, hiring someone with missing or expired certificates can be a breach of compliance. If the background check doesn’t catch expired or missing certifications, it may not be compliant.

Complete Authorization Forms

Every background check requires an authorization form. This gives the company consent to run the check and gather information about the candidate. An outdated or incomplete form is a sign that your healthcare background check isn’t compliant and could cause problems like misinformation and inaccuracy.

A full background check will pull up many details about a person’s life, so it requires completed authorization forms to remain compliant.

A candidate can deny authorization for a background check. While they can do that, the lack of authorization means that the organization can’t perform the background check. In many industries, that can make the application invalid. So a completed authorization form is essential to move forward with the application.

Outdated Results

A person’s history is constantly changing. This means that companies must stay up-to-date with checking a candidate’s records and documents when hiring, even if they’ve checked them before. Having outdated results from a background check could create unwanted situations, as not knowing recent changes could alter workflow.

A service that provides trustworthy results is essential. Companies, especially in the healthcare industry, don’t want to make decisions based on outdated information. Outdated results could happen for different reasons. For example, maybe there were no changes to add, the background check company couldn’t access every piece of information, or they performed the check incorrectly. This could spell trouble for a company if they aim to stay compliant.

New Requirements

As society constantly evolves, requirements and guidelines in the healthcare industry will adjust to meet the needs of patients. This could include stricter hiring practices based on certificates or education.

Background checks keep evolving based on these new requirements. A new requirement that background checks have to consider is a person’s behavior outside of their work. They must look at details that tell important information about a person’s behavior when they think that nobody is watching.

Social media can now have a big impact on an institution’s decision-making process when it comes to hiring someone. Online presence is becoming important, especially with information sharing, behavior monitoring, and risky practices. Healthcare companies can’t risk hiring someone with a history of sharing sensitive patient information online or spreading false information. That makes a compliant and complete background check essential.

Poor Drug Screening

This section is important in the healthcare industry because employees work closely with substances and medicine, and they must know how to handle them properly. A poor drug screening for a background check is an immediate red flag. Failing to perform a drug screening means the background check isn’t compliant.

The type of drug screening that most industries rely on for accuracy, range, and quick turnaround time are urine, saliva, and hair testing. Doing the right tests and following the process to the T will save the company important resources during the hiring process.

Performing a full background check is important in the healthcare industry. People rely on workers to give them the essential care that they need, so companies must make smart hiring choices. Background checks must stay compliant, and if a background check company shows any of these signs of incompliance, it’s time to find a new one.