August 4, 2010

Criminal Background Checks on Hospital Patients Transferring to Nursing Homes

Senate Bill 326, approved by Governor Quinn on July 29, 2010 as Public Act 96-1372 took effect immediately. It contains historic nursing home reform legislation, requires hospitals to initiate electronic, non-fingerprint, name-based criminal background checks on certain patients transferring to a nursing home.

Hospital-Initiated Criminal Background Checks on Certain Patients
Hospitals must request criminal histories on patients transferring to a nursing home who are:

1. Between 18 and 70 years of age;
2. Entering a facility where elderly persons reside;
3. Not previously a resident in a nursing facility;
4. Hospitalized for more than five days;
5. With a known history of serious mental illness or substance abuse;
6. Expected to stay at the nursing home beyond 30 days; AND
7. Independently ambulatory or mobile.

Hospitals will need to inform the nursing home whether and when they have initiated an electronic request for a criminal history on a patient being transferred because nursing homes must initiate criminal history requests on all other new admissions.

A hospital may transfer a patient before the criminal history is known and must promptly forward the results to the receiving facility.

Failure to initiate a required electronic criminal history may result in a fine of $500 per occurrence.

Examples
If a patient is 65 years old and going to a nursing home for the first time, but does not have a known history of serious mental illness or substance abuse, the hospital is not required to initiate the criminal background check. If the patient is independently ambulatory and expected to live at the nursing home, but has lived in a nursing home before, the hospital is not required to initiate the background check. Hospitals must initiate the criminal background check only when the patient meets all of the above criteria.

Practical Considerations
Since hospitals will only request criminal histories on a subset of patients, some confusion could arise between hospitals and nursing homes as to whether or not a criminal background request was made. Therefore, it may be advisable to include a check box on any transfer summary that accompanies patients to nursing homes to indicate if the hospital has submitted an electronic request.

Unless sealed by court order, criminal records are public documents that may be obtained by anyone, without permission.

To register to make electronic requests and to submit required requests, go to the Illinois State Police website.