Ohio workers furnishing direct care for the elderly will have to pass beefed up background checks. The state has received a $2.1 million federal grant to provide increased reviews for more than 100,000 workers who serve patients in Medicaid- and Medicare-funded settings, reports the Dayton Daily News. Ohio will kick in $700,000 for the safety initiative.
Currently, workers receive a background check prior to being hired by their employers. As of January, the state instituted rules requiring post-hiring checks at least every five years. A new electronic background system funded by the grant monitors and reports post-hiring convictions in real time, allowing offenders with disqualifying convictions to be removed from their jobs immediately, the newspaper says.