Long-Term Care: Some States Apply Criminal Background Checks to Home Care Workers

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined federal and state provisions for protecting vulnerable elderly and disabled persons from home care wokers with histories of crime and patient abuse, focusing on: (1) federal or state requirements for licensure, registration, or certification of home care workers and organizations; (2) the extent to which states have used the federally mandated registry for nursing home aides, or a similar mechanism, to identify home care workers with past involvement in abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property; and (3) the extent to which states have required criminal background checks of home care workers.