In the past few years, we have seen an influx of complex regulations and increased litigation in the healthcare industry, making it increasingly difficult for companies to adhere to compliance best practices. Inadequate due diligence and negligent hiring practices in the healthcare sector harms not only an organization, but its patients as well. More often than not, poor hiring decisions are a contributing factor in the rise of lawsuits, medical malpractice claims and subsequent multimillion dollar settlements.

What information matters? What processes are important? Although background checks are becoming standard protocol before an applicant is hired, it’s important to ensure absolute diligence in a few key areas.  With the new year around the corner it’s a great time to review the policies and procedures you have in place now and modify them if necessary.

A lot can happen over the course of the year, which is why we encourage our customers to routinely run background checks on employees; once at the time of hire is simply not enough. A periodic re-check can identify situations that may have occurred since the date of hire (like a criminal offense or DUI). In order to maintain a safe work environment and prevent liability issues, it is imperative for employers to establish an annual background screening process for their company.

This week two lawsuits, involving the language used on a background screening disclosure, were in the news.

One of the recent lawsuits was filed in the Northern District of California where the plaintiff asserted that her prospective employer, Alameda Health, used a disclosure form that contained too much and not enough information.

The other suit in the news this week involved a decision by the Ninth Circuit of Appeals regarding Gloria Mitchell v. Winco Foods, LLC, No. 17-35998, (9th Cir. 2018).  The plaintiff in this case alleged that the forms were not FCRA-compliant.

SelectHire® is OPENonline’s total employment screening solution that offers a convenient and FCRA compliant way to order background checks to ensure adherence to best practices and hiring laws. SelectHire allows you to customize your background screening process with selected background checks that our FCRA certificated Background Specialists perform for you. This helps make sure that the background checks are done consistently, accurately, economically, and returned to you in a timely manner. The majority of background screening reports are completed in one day or less!