Healthcare Background Checks & Criminal Record Searches

A recent Gallup poll showed that among professions as varied as lawyers, car salespeople, and politicians; participants ranked nurses and doctors among the two most trustworthy professions. Qualities such as honesty and trustworthiness are essential in hospitals and healthcare in general. Patients need to trust their doctors and nurses. Thus, hiring managers at medical companies need to be able to trust their candidates.

Finding out that a candidate has a criminal record of theft shows an employer that they may never be able to trust an applicant with patients’ personal belongings or finances. Additionally, finding out that a candidate has other criminal convictions related to drugs, elder abuse, or identity misrepresentation is enough to disregard the application.

People turn to healthcare professionals in dire, life-or-death circumstances. Job candidates need to have the highest level of integrity and experience possible.

Each employer will have criteria for hiring practices related to criminal background checks for healthcare workers. There are also national and state laws around discrimination against candidates with criminal records that employers must familiarize themselves with to give all applicants a fair chance to compete for jobs.

1. Certain criminal convictions

Some items on a criminal record may disqualify candidates from working in healthcare.

Battery, violent assault, sexual assault, and hate crimes raise major red flags. If these charges appear as convictions in a record check, an employer may reasonably turn down a candidate for the position.

It is largely a case-by-case process, however. If a 35-year-old candidate’s record shows a conviction for a petty offense at 16 that they have learned and grown from, that might not constitute an instant rejection.

2. Theft and fraud

Theft and fraud are serious charges when hiring for healthcare positions. Doctors, nurses, home health aides, and other healthcare workers all have patients who trust them with their sensitive personal information. That could include their social security number, bank account information, and valuables like jewelry that patients may have in their rooms. 

Theft and fraud are not only fireable offenses, but many employers may prosecute if they catch workers stealing. Rather than get involved in that legal mess, hiring managers may reject candidates with these offenses on their records outright.

3. Drug-related offenses

Drug-related offenses can similarly be immediately disqualifying. It all depends on the scope of the crime, how long ago they committed it, the temperament of the employer, and so much more.

However, a conviction related to selling or smuggling drugs can suggest inherent untrustworthiness to some employers. Similarly, failing a drug screening during the hiring process is a disqualifying offense.

4. Child or elder abuse

Working in healthcare, you’re already dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in need of care. The stakes are even higher when it comes to children and elders in the hospital or hospice care. 

Convictions for child and elder abuse deserve their own category of criminal offenses from which there’s no moving forward.

5. Identity/employment/experience misrepresentation

Certain things can come up in a medical field background check that are still questionable, even if they aren’t criminal charges or convictions. One of those is misrepresentation.

An employer needs to know that a candidate has the proper training and qualifications to perform their job. If they claim on an application that they worked for and earned their M.D., but that proves false, there’s no reason to move forward. 

Misrepresentation of any kind raises serious questions about a candidate’s integrity. Not to mention their basic aptitude for performing the functions of the job,

Reputable background screening services offer checks that pull data from a range of sources: national criminal databases, employment and education records, driving histories, and even international watchlists in some cases. This is considered the most comprehensive form of background check. 

State checks, on the other hand, are the lighter version. They offer localized information, but are severely limited as soon as you step over a state boundary. For focused hiring, and when you are certain a candidate has only resided in a single state, they do the job, but there’s undoubtedly an element of risk.

Healthcare sanctions are official marks that the certified licensing board of a given region will give to a practicing individual who fails to carry out their duties properly. Whenever a physician or nurse commits an error that does not live up to the standard bestowed upon them by a license, they receive a sanction.

Sanctions can include public censures, fines, suspensions, and other actions the licensing board took against the individual.

Why do they belong on a hospital background check?

Sanctions are like notes in an individual’s private file that follow them wherever they go looking for work. If an individual commits an error in a hospital in Wisconsin, does a private practice in New Jersey not deserve to know if considering them for an open position?

If a candidate is under serious consideration for a job, that company deserves to see whatever sanctions against them in a medical field background check.

The most common increment of time that background checks go back to is a period of seven years. When a hiring manager or team hires a round of background checks for job candidates, they may stipulate the period for which they wish to screen. Some extend for up to ten years.

As you go further back, a patient’s record may not be as comprehensive or telling as the records from just two years back. The same goes for candidates who have less experience. 

But the “lookback period” of seven years is standard across the healthcare field. It’s considered a sufficient amount of time to dredge up anything that may interfere with a candidate moving forward in the hiring process.