Michigan organizations are working on a $5 million grant project to increase the safety of elderly patients at long-term care facilities by improving background checks for employees.
Michigan is one of seven states that received grant money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"There's a situation in the state of Michigan; there are not standardized background checks," said co-Director of the project Lori Post, an assistant professor and violence researcher in MSU's Department of Family and Child Ecology. "People who should not be taking care of our most vulnerable population will not be able to."
MSU professors and researchers are working with the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Michigan State Police, the Family Independence Agency, the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging and other organizations to tackle problems in the current system.
The policy might include new legislation. Under the current law, a person convicted of a felony can not work in nursing homes for 15 years, and someone with a misdemeanor can't for 10 years, Post said.
Currently, nursing homes, county medical care facilities, homes for the aged and adult foster care facilities are required by law to conduct background checks for employees that provide direct care, said Jan Christensen, deputy director for health policy, regulation and professions for the Department of Community Health.
The new program would require background checks for employees of home health agencies, hospice programs, some psychiatric hospitals and some independent contractors who provide services in people's homes, Christensen said.
People who receive in-home care might be at a greater risk of neglect or abuse from unqualified or dangerous workers, said Reg Carter, president and chief executive officer of the Health Care Association of Michigan.
"In those particular cases where you have a provider going into someone's home, I think that probably exposes that client to greater risk because of the exposure to the entire home and the isolation of that relationship," he said.
Some long-term care facilities that aren't required by law to conduct background checks already do. Harvey Zuckerberg, executive director of the Michigan Home Health Association said, for the most part, the facilities in his agency get background checks on their employees.
In addition to more background checks, Post said she wants to work on an appeals system for people who might have committed a less serious crime years ago, so that it wouldn't affect their work opportunities.
