5 Benefits of Background Screenings in Healthcare

Enhance patient care with background checks in medical fields.

Hiring in the healthcare field revolves around a lot of working pieces to find a qualified candidate who will flourish in the position at hand. You’re looking for the whole picture — someone who is passionate about patient care, has the right credentials and work experience, and someone, at the end of the day, you can trust and don’t have to worry about. 

When you partner with a background screening service such as NationSearch, we can help give you that confidence in your healthcare employees. In today’s post, we’ll touch on the benefits of employee background screenings in healthcare. 

Let’s explore how background checks benefit the healthcare industry and how they can help you find great new hires!

Background screenings improve patient protection.

Unfortunately, we’re not at a point where we can simply trust someone’s word (or resume) anymore, and we need extra processes in place to keep everyone safe. There are so many stories in the media where people were taken advantage of because the staff was not properly screened. And, this is not just medical staff members such as nurse aids and/or RNs; doctors are also falsifying information. 

Kenneth Dean Lee was not known for his compassionate patient care, instead, he was a medical predator preying on and assaulting the vulnerable immigrant community for 15 years, pretending he was a doctor. And, even when doctors have a medical license and have been banned from practicing medicine as a result of criminal convictions or allegations, many end up slipping through the cracks because background checks and license verifications weren’t conducted. 

To better protect your patients, it’s crucial to run a background check on every healthcare employee you hire!

Background screenings help your healthcare facility avoid federal fines.

Healthcare organizations that don’t participate in federal programs such as Medicare can face hefty fines for all procedures that are excluded, costing your healthcare organization a great deal of money. 

While many medical facilities actively have an exclusion screening program (you may, too), background screenings can serve as an extra precaution in avoiding federal fines because you can filter healthcare professionals that comply in providing Medicare services.

Background screenings better evade false credentials and negligent hiring.

Medical malpractice lawsuits aren’t uncommon to the healthcare sphere. However, background screenings may be able to better prevent these lawsuits as a result of verifying credentials, thus avoiding negligent hiring. 

It’s important that your company has proper protocols in place to identify any applicants that have falsified information before you hire them. 

A thorough background check verifies licenses, educational and criminal background histories, and work experience, in the hopes of keeping your company from any allegations of credentialing that can lead to negligent hiring. 

Background screenings comply with healthcare best practices.

While the Affordable Care Act mandates some healthcare facilities in implementing background checks, it’s really only a small percentage of the medical industry. But, at the end of the day, even though it may not be required for many companies, a majority (roughly 93%) of the healthcare industry conducts background checks on some or all of the medical professionals that are in a position of trust. This is to say, background screenings in the healthcare industry are the best practices for most medical entities. 

Background screenings give medical facilities longevity.

There is often a notion that background checks are a one-and-done type of practice, but in our current climate, this is no longer the case. Background screenings only provide a snapshot of a person’s history, but unfortunately, things can change over time. 

To help keep your facility protected in the long run and always be the leader in patient care, periodic background screenings are a must. 

What are your current background screening policies? 

When you collaborate with NationSearch for all of your background screening services, you get a variety of background checks and verifications that will assist you in hiring the best person for the job, and ensure they are who they claim to be. With NationSearch, we’re one helpful piece to hiring the best healthcare professionals!

Streamline your hiring practices and get the premier background screening services from NationSearch today!