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Nurse background checks sail through committee

Patricia Borns
pborns@newsleader.com
Sen. Steve Martin (R-Chesterfield) reviews the agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the Committee on Education and Health, where a bill he and Sen. Rosalyn Dance (D-Petersburg) sponsored to require criminal background checks for nursing applicants was voted up 15-0. The bill now moves to the Senate for a full vote.

RICHMOND A criminal background check bill for nurses won unanimous approval in committee during Thursday morning's General Assembly session.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Rosalyn Dance (D-Petersburg), was combined with an identical bill offered by Sen. Steve Martin (R-Chesterfield). It goes next to the Senate for a full vote.

Sen. Rosalyn Dance (D-Petersburg) testifies Thursday before the Committee on Education and Health about a bill she sponsored requiring criminal background checks for nurses applying for state licensure. The bill passed 15-0, and now moves to the Senate for a full vote.

Speaking on behalf of the legislation, Dance said right now, nurses only have to answer no to the criminal record question on their license applications, with no verification other than their say-so.

"I'm a nurse," said Dance, "and you want us to care for you with the certainty that we have been fully reviewed."

Fingerprinting and a criminal background check will apply to licensed and registered nurses at the initial time of licensure, at a cost of $50 to the applicant. No state criminal background check will be required for license renewals.

The legislation comes after The News Leader reported in December on the state's poor track record regulating and monitoring addicted nurses.

To Avante administrator Ashley Heath, criminal background checks would be more useful if also conducted when nursing licenses are renewed, because federal law already requires them for her Waynesboro nursing home at the time a candidate is hired.

"We only do it once, so if a nurse has trouble later, I might not know right away," Heath said. Most of her applicants come from the Valley, and about one in five of their background checks turn up something worthy of her concern. "It makes you wonder," she said.

But the cost of a background check for each license renewal would be more than nurses or the state would likely be willing to bear.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe in December allocated about $254,500 and four new positions in his proposed budget to implement the legislation. The funds will come from licensure fees rather than tax dollars.

The value of the criminal background checks to the nursing profession lies in getting more states to participate in the Nursing Licensure Compact, Jay Douglas, executive director of the Virginia Board of Nursing, told The News Leader. The Compact offers expanded career options and convenience by letting nurses practice across state lines without having to re-apply for a license.

It's also the easiest way for problem nurses to fly under the radar because of the time lag after they arrive in Virginia and begin practicing, before they have to apply for a license here.

Dance said Virginia is one of only four states not conducting criminal background checks for nursing license applicants, which the legislation will remedy.