Applicants, employees, licensees/certificate holders, and staffing agencies must complete and review criminal records checks tied to licensure and hiring, with limited conditional-hire and cost-allocation rules.
I. Every applicant for a license or certification to operate any facility or entity required to be licensed or certified under this chapter shall submit with the initial application for licensure or certification the results of a criminal records check for the applicant, the licensee, or certificate holder if other than the applicant, the administrator, and each household member 18 years of age or older, if any, who reside at the facility for which the application for a license is submitted at the time of application and, subsequently for the duration of licensure or certification, for each new household member 18 years of age or older. II. Every individual selected for employment with any facility or entity required to be licensed or certified under this chapter shall submit to the employer a public criminal history record information authorization, which authorizes the release of his or her public criminal history record information to the facility. This shall apply to any employee, including volunteers, whose scope of employment will involve direct contact with a client, client records or client tissue, body fluids, or other biological material. For the purposes of this paragraph, "volunteers" shall not include any person admitted to a facility or entity required to be licensed or certified under this chapter or who resides in an affiliated corporate entity that is an integral part of the same community. III. The licensee or certificate holder shall review the results of the public criminal history record information check before making a final offer of employment. An employee shall not begin work before the final offer of employment is made, however, pending the results of the criminal history record check an employer may employ a licensed nursing assistant on a conditional basis for up to 90 calendar days before the employer receives the results of the criminal history records check, if the conditional employee: (a) Is under the direct on-site supervision of a licensed staff person, provided that this paragraph shall not be construed to waive any statutory requirement for direct supervision of a licensee or certificate holder; (b) Has passed a criminal history record check within the prior 12 months as part of a nursing assistant education program approved by the board of nursing; (c) Has provided the facility with a copy of the criminal history record check required under subparagraph (b); and (d) Has provided a written attestation that no disqualifying criminal history exists. IV. The cost of criminal conviction record checks for such applicants shall be borne by the licensee or certificate holder, provided that the licensee or certificate holder may require an applicant to pay the actual cost of the criminal conviction record check. V. (a) Any agency providing temporary or per diem staff to a facility or entity licensed or certified under this chapter shall conduct a criminal conviction record check pursuant to this section. The agency shall not offer the services of any person until the agency has reviewed the criminal history of the employee. (b) The cost of criminal history record checks for such temporary or per diem staff shall be borne by the agency providing temporary or per diem staff to a home health care provider, provided that the agency providing per diem staffing may require the selected applicant for employment to pay the actual costs of the criminal conviction record check. Source: Source. 2003, 185:1, eff. July 1, 2003. 2008, 268:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009. 2009, 250:1, eff. July 16, 2009. 2017, 202:1, eff. Sept. 3, 2017; 202:3, eff. June 30, 2019. 2019, 297:4, eff. July 1, 2019. 2022, 85:1, eff. May 20, 2022. 2024, 42:8, eff. July 30, 2024.