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Question: What will criminal background checks cost the long-term care system and who will pay for them?
There is general agreement that there should be criminal background checks. With this in mind, the bill establishes a requirement for background checks to be required on a national basis through the FBI Crime Center. Congress gave nursing homes the option to use the FBI Crime Center in 1998, but most do not. Instead, limited criminal background checks are conducted on a state basis.
Senator Kohl has introduced a bill, which was co-sponsored by Senator Breaux, which provides that criminal background checks can be included in a facility’s reimbursement. However, there are a couple of other options in this regard to examine before finalizing this provision: (1) tax incentives for nursing homes to pay for it - but this would not help the non-profits; (2) requiring the nursing homes to pay for it, like other businesses, including schools, day care centers, etc; or (3) using the center that would be established by a bill introduced by Senator Biden that creates a background check center for volunteers with a dedicated stream of funding.