Purpose and Reason :

To allow nursing homes to initiate national criminal record checks within thirty (30) days of employment in order to allow for rapid recruitment, training, credentialing and placement of nursing home staff.

Brief statement of Reason for Finding Imminent Peril :

COVID-19, the new disease cause by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has been deemed a global pandemic. It continues to spread and overwhelm the state’s ability to respond. Aggressive and sustained efforts are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 to lessen the strain on our health care system. To support long term care settings where there are critical health care worker staffing challenges, and to allow for rapid recruitment, training, credentialing and placement of these workers into critical settings, the requirement of national criminal records check being initiated prior to, or within one week of employment is extended from one week to thirty days for the duration of the pandemic.