Christy Curtis' voice tensed as she talked about her late mother and the care she received in her last years.

Curtis' family decided to hire a home health care worker to take care of her mother after the family had difficulty providing the care themselves. But Curtis said she wasn't satisfied with the care her mother received.

"One of the girls that came would just sit on the couch and watch TV," the 21-year-old Lansing resident said. "It made me mad to see that no one was taking care of her."

A new system developed by MSU researchers could prevent cases like Curtis' from happening in the future.

MSU researchers created a system that makes background checks for long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, home care and hospices, more extensive by teaming up with multiple state agencies.

The system will launch Saturday and will help prevent facilities from hiring employees with criminal records or histories of abuse and neglect by screening their names through various state and federal registries.

The new system has been coupled with state legislation that will require all long -term care facilities to use the screening process.

Lori Post, assistant dean for research in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, was in charge of developing the system and said it will help to provide a more qualified and safer workforce for long-term care facilities in the state.

"There have been some horrific cases where violent felons have been allowed into these facilities," Post said. "(The system) will create a web of security checks so these people don't fall through the cracks and will keep bad people away from some of our most vulnerable citizens."

Last year, the state received a grant for $5 million from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to improve background checks for long-term care facilities. Of the total grant, $4.1 million went to MSU.

Post said the current system isn't standardized, which makes it difficult to check a new employee's complete history. In the past, employers usually didn't check the multiple state and agency registries, so individuals with criminal histories in other states were able to get jobs in facilities here, she said.

But employees' names won't be the only things screened through the new system. If a name is screened and no disqualifying records appear, the employees' fingerprints are digitally scanned and sent to the FBI to be checked against federal records. Post said the digital fingerprint scan costs about $70 per employee, but the system will save facilities money because only people who pass the first screening process will have their fingerprints checked.

Another benefit of the system is that it could return results within days, or even hours, Post said.

She added that she hopes the new system won't have a negative effect on the workforce.

"We have a decreasing labor force because the population is aging and there is the potential we're going to exclude more people from being able to work," Post said. "It won't necessarily happen, but we'll find out."

Todd Walter, director of resident quality of life at Burcham Hills Retirement Community, 2700 Burcham Drive, said the center currently does background checks and verifies records of previous employment.

"It's important to make sure that we have noncriminal people working with our most vulnerable populations," Walter said. "We have to be able to ensure the safety of every single elder who lives here."

Burcham Hills participated in a statewide pilot program related to the new system to teach employees to recognize signs of abuse and neglect in residents.

"We need to make sure people know about it and what to do when they see it, because it is not tolerated," Walter said.

He added that he thinks the current system is good, but the new one will be more thorough.

"It's going to tighten things even more to make sure the proper people with the proper skills are caring for our nation's elders," Walter said.