17Jun

4 tips for using Facebook legally to conduct background checks

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Facebook legally to conduct background checks

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As more people create Facebook profiles (500 million and growing), and sign on to the many social media sites available today, hiring managers are finding they have new opportunities to get background information on job candidates.

Tapping into a potential hire’s Facebook profile, or Twitter account, for information means you can learn more about a candidate’s personality than you might get with just a job interview. A Facebook profile, or collection of tweets, can offer additional insight into whether or not a person might be a good fit with a corporation’s culture. On the flip side, a thorough check of one’s social media footprint might also uncover some serious missteps, or questionable judgments, a potential hire has made in their past. Having the benefit of finding this BEFORE a hire has been made may make some organizations feel thankful they’ve dodged the bullet of a potential disastrous addition to the work ranks.

[See also: Checking job candidates’ FB pages can come back to haunt you]

But in between the good and the bad information is plenty of data that is illegal to view if you are making a hiring decision. And even if a hiring manager honestly does not use off-limits material, once they have seen it on Facebook, it can become grounds for a lawsuit.

“It not about the medium,” according to Victoria Mavis, president & senior consultant at Core People Resources, a human-resource-services firm in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.”It’s about what you do with the information you get. Whether I get it off the background information check or off of Facebook, is it information I should have access to in the first place?”

For a little guidance on navigating the new landscape of information out there on potential hires, we spoke with human resource and labor law experts on ways to be smart when using Facebook and other social media to check up on job candidates.

Tip #1: If you’re going to use Facebook to vet job applicants, make it clear, up front, in the hiring process

If you plan to take advantage of social media venues, like Facebook, to conduct background investigations, the most important first step is to have a policy, and make sure candidates are aware of it, said Mavis.

“Let candidates know you are going to do background checks so you can do it properly and get authorization,” she said.

That means disclosing all of the places you may go searching for information about a potential hire, and all of the things you may go looking for.

“Identify ahead of time the five or ten things that, if you saw them on a candidate’s profile, would concern you about them. That might be a reference to use of illegal drugs, or graphics promoting hate,” said Mavis. “Also figure out what might be some positives you would seek, such as a candidate who is active in their community, or involved in a cause, such as cancer research.”

Tip #2: But remember, once you’ve viewed it, it can put you in a legal conundrum

Using Mavis’ previous point about finding out a potential hire is involved in cancer research, brings us to a concern that goes along with discovery this kind of information. As Jon Hyman, a partner in the Labor & Employment Group at Ohio legal firm Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, notes, finding out someone is involved with a cancer-related cause also means you might discover health information you shouldn’t access as a hiring organization.

“There are a lot of EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) issues to consider,” said Hyman. “Say you are doing a Facebook search on a potential employee, and find they have “liked” the Komen Foundation. You read through the page and find this person is a breast cancer survivor. Now the bell has rung that this person has had cancer, and you now have disability-discrimination issues, whether it’s based on the actual disability, or perceived disability. You now also have genetic-information-discrimination possibilities. And that bell can’t be un-rung. And as an employer who has to make a hiring decision, you get put in the unenviable position of having to prove a negative; of having to prove that you didnt use that information as part of the decision.”

Other obvious EEO areas you don’t want to view while looking at Facebook and other social media would include religious affiliations, race status or age.

“You would never ask on a job application what year someone graduated from college, because that could disclose how old someone is,” noted Hyman.”That is not something you want to know when making hiring decision. But if you go on Facebook, you can see what year a person graduated, and you can easily put two and two together and figure out something that is information you would never ask for otherwise.”

Tip #3: Consider a third party to do the research for you

Having an independent researcher, someone not linked to the hiring and recruiting process, look for information and report back to you may be the best way to avoid any impropriety on the part of the hiring organization, said Mavis.

“If I can access your Facebook profile, I can see your sex, your age, your race. All that is privy to me and I can’t realistically say I didn’t have access to it,” she said. “But as a researcher, I could have access to it. I just dont report it on to the hiring managers.”

An independent researcher does not always have to be someone outside the company, said Mavis. Smaller organizations that may not be able to afford to hire a third-party can recruit an employee within the company who has no influence on the hiring decision.

Whoever conducts the background check should work from a list of information the employer has predetermined that they want to find, which can be both positive and negative attributes. The researcher can then print or copy the materials they have found and bring them back to the hiring organization; omitting any information that is illegal to use in a hiring decision. This ensures hiring personnel do not have access to protected information, said Mavis.

Tip #4: Understand what you find may not be reliable or accurate

“Just because someone puts it on a blog or Twitter, doesn’t mean it’s true,” said Hyman.

While information uncovered during a background investigation using Facebook, Twitter, blogs or other online sites, may make a candidate seem like a poor fit, it’s important to follow up and let them know what you have found.

“If you decide not to hire a candidate based on something a researcher has found, present them with that information, explain why it’s a concern,” said Mavis. “There is always a chance it’s incorrect on social media. It could even be the wrong person. But the candidate deserves a chance to explain.”

 

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17Jun

Controlling Employee Theft – Pre Employment Criminal Background Checks is a Need of a Time

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Controlling Employee Theft - Pre Employment Criminal Background Checks is a Need of a Time

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by Syed Faiez Hussain

Knowing Background of an Employee can help protect your company against Employee Theft.

Crime is the LOUDEST word that we have heard in past decade. Inflation in business crime has increased like never before. Open up your daily newspaper on just about any given day and there’s a very good chance you will see an article about one or more employees caught stealing in some form from their place of employment. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates employee theft to be $40 BILLION annually. Some portrayed stories are underlined as references to let you know, how employee theft is hurting our businesses;


“A New York newspaper has reported that a woman who allegedly claimed her ailing boyfriend as her husband in order for him to receive medical treatments (it cost her employer over $100,000 in out-of-pocket costs)”.

“Another newspaper revealed that two employees at a retail establishment who supposedly stole and sold store merchandise for profit on eBay. Thus far but still counting, stolen merchandise is already valued at over $50,000”.

And the most daunting story is still to come, when a business owner attempted to teach a fraudulent worker a lesson; he ended up learning a few things himself.

“A business owner in England found out one of his trusted employees wrote a company check to himself for £845 ($1,375.66 US) and then cashed it.

Enraged, the owner decided to practice a bit of street justice. So he placed a sign — which read “Thief. I stole £845. Am On My Way to Police Station” — around the thieving staffers’ neck and marched him through town before eventually handing him over to the police.

But the police let the thief off with just a warning, and then he sued his boss for humiliation, false imprisonment and lost wages. In the end, the business owner was forced to settle the lawsuit for £13,000 ($21,164)”.

Employee Theft is the Biggest Problem for All Sort of Businesses:

From corporate giants to small-medium businesses, all are affected by this crime. In the current scenario when the world has already seen a biggest halt in economy interims of recession, there is darn need to stop and prevent employee theft.

Although it can be tough to pin point the problem, some telltale signs of thieving employees may include; unusual behavior, such as defensiveness, irritability and suspiciousness, missing documents, frequently used names and addresses for refunds, unbalanced ledgers, inventory shortages, and merchandise frequently shipped to P.O. Box numbers.

But the point is that, why a company would let anyone enter their peaceful crime free environment? They never want that, because it can not only damage their reputation but it can also give them a financial loss over hiring and then to employee theft, fraud and embezzlement.

So the first and foremost line of defense against employee theft, fraud and embezzlement is to adopt strict pre employment criminal background checks and credit history background checks before hiring anyone into the organization.

8 Best Ways to prevent Employee Theft, Fraud and Embezzlement:

  • Pre employment Criminal background checks: The first step to preventing employee theft is to screen job applicants thoroughly before hiring them in the first place. Background checks should be performed and should include a check on criminal history, civil history, driver license violations, as well as verification of education, past employment (including reasons for leaving), and references.
  • Credit History Background Checks: Consider running a credit check on prospective employees, as people with financial difficulties are more prone to fraud. In order to do this, you are legally required to notify the job applicant in writing that a credit report may be requested. You also need to receive the applicant’s written consent.
  • Be clear with employees: that your company has zero tolerance for employee theft of any sort. This includes not only outright stealing, but also things such as taking a long lunch break without approval, using sick leave when not sick, doing slow or sloppy work, or coming to work late or leaving early.
  • Mention Company Policy: Write and distribute a company policy that outlines exactly what constitutes stealing. Contact your local police department if you do discover an incident of employee theft so you send a message to your employees that stealing will not be tolerated.
  • Be a Role Model for Your Employees: Business owners and senior management must themselves be role models of honesty and integrity, or they may risk setting up a work environment that justifies illegal and criminal activity.
  • Separation of duties is critical: Avoid at all costs allowing the finances of a business to be handled and controlled by a single individual. No employee should be responsible for both recording and processing a transaction.
  • Run surprise audits and criminal activity background checks: Third party investigations are essential once a year. Also insist that your bookkeeper or any employee who has access to monies take a yearly vacation so you can examine their records.
  • Customer Complaints can also identify: Personally look into customer complaints that they have not received credit for payments.

Conclusion:

We like to think the best people with whom we work or who work for us. However, it can be costly to naïve about employee theft and fraud. As the insider threat entry noted, your employees are a source of risk. They have the access to and knowledge about your organization to steal variety of organizational assets, including equipment and money, or to commit fraud.

Those employers are wise who initiate their hiring process by proper pre employment criminal background checks on their job candidates. And this first on process is making difficult for criminal employees to enter a safe secure peaceful environment of any organization, because every criminal possess a past and they can be pointed out during their pre employment criminal background checks.

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10Jun

Lack of a Background Check Leads to Embarrassment for College

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by Syed Faiez Hussain

A former college instructor was recently arrested in Maryland following a fraud investigation of his falsified degrees, military experience and other personal details, according to TBD.com. Bill Hillar had been teaching, leading workshops, giving speeches and conducting training for at least a decade based on his fabricated biography.

Hillar instructed at Middlebury College on drug trafficking, human trafficking and other college summer classes to hundreds of students. An investigation was launched when student veterans who were taking Hillar’s class challenged his credentials as a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and holder of a doctorate, saying he did not exhibit the mannerisms of a high-ranking army officer.

When Middlebury tried to verify his credentials, they found he did not have the Ph.D. he claimed and his military experience was substantially exaggerated. In reality, he’d served for eight years as an enlisted sailor in the Coast Guard, but did not serve in any of the locations or hold the ranks or conduct any of the duties he claimed.

A college official told the FBI she’d hired Hillar based on his resume and website biography and that a background check hadn’t been conducted since Hillar was not a formal employee.

Middlebury’s mistake is a very common one made not only by higher education institutions, but by a wide range of organizations as well – not conducting a background check on contingent workers.

Even organizations that have an extensive background checking program in place often can miss this major security gap and neglect to screen consultants, contractors, partner and vendor employees, and temporary workers. This workforce, however, can represent considerable risks for organizations – as they can serve in highly responsible positions, and have access to personnel, facilities and sensitive data.

It’s a best practice to ensure that the background screening policies cover contingent workers, to avoid both security and business liabilities. By performing a background check including education and employment verification on Hillar, this incident likely would have been prevented.
Organizations should implement the same background screening procedures and requirements for the entire workforce, including contractors, consultants and vendor employees. Background screening requirements should be explicitly laid out in contracts, conducted and enforced through regular audits.

Source: Hire Right


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10Jun

Screening Employees To Avoid Workplace Violence

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by Syed Faiez Hussain

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 564 work-related homicides occurred each year in the United States from 2004 to 2008. While maintaining a safe workplace is the primary goal of any workplace safety program, many companies – both small and large – fail to engage in a comprehensive background-screening program for employees and contractors. Why is background screening so important in screening out potential work-related violence? And why should current employees and contractors be screened annually?

Workplace violence prevention can include many strategies and tactics. Developing and implementing a workplace violence prevention plan is essential. Ongoing reviews, training and drills are needed to ensure that the plan lives, and is effective. Procedures and hotlines can be established for employees who need assistance, or for those who recognize the warning signs of workplace violence from a co-worker.

Many organizations also institute highly effective awareness campaigns that include workplace speakers and seminars. Workplace violence also is taken into consideration when developing security policies and access control methods.

The Eye of the Storm

While all of these steps are highly recommended, another critical strategy is to review what is at the center of every workplace violence situation: employees. Whether the assailant or the victim, an employee is involved in every instance of workplace violence. Companies that care about the environment in which people are working must strive to ensure that everyone who interacts with the work force has a violence-free history. The best prognosticator of future violence is a review of the past.

People who have histories of domestic abuse, assault and battery, or drug and alcohol abuse, often demonstrate anger management and personal control problems, which may be red flags for employers.

Background checks can identify applicants and employees who have demonstrated unacceptable workplace behavior. The background check can include county criminal record and national criminal file searches, drug testing, prior employment and education verification, license verifications and other investigations that can reveal potential warning signs.

When people know that a company stands behind comprehensive background screening, they know that the company cares about their welfare. Applicants who have dubious backgrounds that include reckless acts may self-select out of the interviewing process. Applicants and existing employees with clean backgrounds typically are not bothered by the screening process as they appreciate the organization’s commitment to a safe workplace.

Know Whom is on Your Premises

To fully secure a facility, employers must know exactly who is on the premises. Whether you are a property manager, HR representative or business leader, it is important to understand that a secure workplace means screening not just employees, but also contractors, vendors and temporary staff. These individuals can run the gamut from regular faces your employees know well, to the contractor who visits only once.

Regardless of your level of familiarity with these vendors or temporary employees, the need for thorough background screening is the same. To promote a greater level of safety and security for employees and customers, it is vital to conduct regular screening of the extended work force that may include service and repair professionals, construction workers, food service workers – virtually any non-employee that is interacting with your personnel and customers.

I worked in the staffing business for over a decade, and found that companies always are looking for speed in the hiring and on-boarding process. Comprehensive background screening can take up to a week to complete, which can exasperate some hiring managers. However, a company that fails to rigorously screen applicants or repeat screening for current employees and contractors may face much larger issues than a few days delay in on-boarding a new hire. Workplace violence, employee theft, fraud and a host of other issues can arise when hiring an employee who has not been properly screened. This may make an organization vulnerable to employee injury or death, unsafe working conditions, brand and reputation damage and lawsuits for negligent hiring.

Additionally, it is critical to re-screen employees – and contractors – each year. Employees who keep their personal lives private may be involved in activities that negatively could impact your workplace. For example, an employee who joined the company with a clean record 5 years ago may have been involved in domestic disputes over the past few years. This new information is crucial for an employer as domestic disputes sometimes travel into the workplace. The same applies for contractors.

Violence-Free Culture

Requiring employees and contractors to complete initial and annual background screening is a common practice. When communicated properly, and presented as part of your comprehensive effort to maintain a violence-free workplace, everyone involved will better understand the need. Employees will appreciate your dedication to creating a corporate culture and daily working environment that is focused on safety and security.

Background screening also can become the marker for when employees and contractors should be reminded of other elements of your workplace violence prevention efforts. Information to promote awareness and reminders to participate in company-sponsored training can be distributed when background checks are initiated.

There are many stressors in the workplace today. Employees and contractors are juggling large workloads, demanding deadlines and a rocky economy. People want to know that the colleagues they pass in the hall, the contractor who fixes their copier and the cleaning crew who tidies up the workspace have been vetted by their employer as best as is legally possible. Background screening may not weed out every potential workplace violence situation, but it is the gold standard of what companies can and must do.

Source: EHS Today

 

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8Jun

Russian Background Checks and the Social Network Scam

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When talking about online dating scams, Russia and the Ukraine often come to mind. For the past five years or so, they’ve been among the leading countries in the world for this type of internet crime. It is precisely the bad reputation that has forced many scammers to search for new ways to con people online. As consumers become aware of scam risk, criminals quickly evolve their tactics.

Con artists have taken the fast lane of the internet and have essentially stopped using emails to target their victims. The new trend is to target victims on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as posts have proven to be more effective than spam mail, and easier than targeting victims on internet dating websites. The fact is, anyone using a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace, or online dating site like Match.com or eHarmony is facing increased risk for fraud and scams. Experts advise never to reveal any personal information to anyone unknown who has not been verified, and when in doubt, consult a professional private investigator for an international background check. If your partner or new friend is based in Russia or the Ukraine, a Russia background check is advised.

Scam types are varied and can come in many forms, but criminals are smart to work slowly. Their objective is to gain your trust, and then your money or your personal information, which can be used to steal your identity and/or money. Posters on social networking sites can claim to be normal people, doctors or lawyers, investors, etc. Scams can involve inheritances, romance, assistance with visas or passports, money for airfare, precious metals and gold, and countless others. The story ends with the victim having lost precious information or money, and the criminal long gone into cyberspace.

 

Criminals tend to operate from internet cafes in and around Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia, where tracking down and identifying criminals can be difficult. Muslim terrorist Osama Bin Laden himself used a courier to send his messages from different cyber cafes and was able to avoid the detection from the CIA, under direction of the Barack Hussein Obama Administration. If terrorists are avoiding detection and capture by using random internet cafes, one can understand how difficult it might be to locate an unknown criminal in Russia, the Ukraine, the U.K., the Philippines, Ghana, South Africa or Nigeria.

Social networks are not the only hunting ground, although it is one of the main risk areas, along with online dating. Youtube and Flikr are getting trendier for internet criminals to get victims by adding appealing content that is hard to ignore, like “the pictures you didn’t see of William and Kate”. People click on the link and open their computers up to virus and other malware, which the scammer can use in his approach to communicate with the subject, and eventually steal their information and money.

Because of the high risk, law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and Interpol strongly advise to never reveal your personal information over the internet to someone you’ve never met. And, be cautious about publishing personal details on sites such as Facebook or Twitter or Myspace, or Match.com, even if your profile is believed to be private. Small businesses alone lose billions of dollars worldwide each month from scams like this. The losses from individuals is difficult to estimate, as many victims let their crimes go unreported. For cases and new contacts in Russia or the Ukraine, stay skeptical and guard your personal information. To be safe, contact a Russia private investigator for assistance.

All the best,

S. Birch.
© 2011 S. Birch

Mr. Birch is a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania and has over 20 years of experience in private investigation services and surveillance. Mr. Birch has served as an advisor for international private investigators including Wymoo International and maintains his own private investigation blog.  He has directed investigations in over 25 countries and is widely considered an expert.
Article from articlesbase.com

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8Jun

Screening The Screeners: Airport arrests raise security questions

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By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News

They’re entrusted with keeping travellers safe in the skies.

But the recent arrest of two Vancouver International Airport security screeners for conspiring to export drugs has once again raised the question: Who’s screening the screeners at Canada’s major airports?

Sen. Colin Kenny, former chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, said the infiltration of organized crime in Canada’s airports is pervasive, but background checks of airport workers and the screen-ing of employees when they enter or leave restricted areas are woefully inadequate.

“The government knows all these problems. The government has not taken action on any of these problems,” Kenny said in an interview.

Late last month, police announced they had arrested a man at the Vancouver airport for attempting to carry a backpack full of ecstasy -nearly 15 kilograms worth -onto a plane bound for Los Angeles.

It is alleged that the man did not have the backpack on him while he went through security screening, but somehow acquired it after he was cleared.

Canada Border Services Agency officers intercepted the man at the departure gate as he waited to board the plane. A spokeswoman declined to say how authorities were tipped off.

The investigation led to the arrests of two uniformed, preboard screening officers employed at the airport. One was a supervisor. The other was a frontline worker.

One of the two had a recent conviction for credit card fraud and was on probation.

Their employer, Aeroguard Group, said the two men have since been suspended without pay.

Kenny said background checks of airport employees who work in restricted areas need to be more rigorous.

Right now, checks happen every five years, and, according to Kenny, consist merely of typing in a person’s name into a database and seeing if something bounces back. Kenny said the checks should happen at least every three years and should be more probing for associations with criminal groups.

Kenny also said airport employees should be screened for contraband every time they enter or exit a restricted area. This is the practice in Britain.

In Canada, such screening is random and, according to Kenny, occurs only one to two per cent of the time. “They could be bringing drugs, bombs or guns,” he said.

Transport Canada is the agency responsible for setting up regulations and policy for aviation security in Canada.

In an e-mail, Transport Canada spokeswoman Melanie Quesnel said background checks on employees working in restricted zones at airports are similar to checks performed on federal employees with secret-level clearances -and those are valid for 10 years.

Under a 2009 agreement with the RCMP, those checks were expanded, enabling Transport Canada to “base security clearance decisions on more complete data from a broader range of intelligence sources.”

Citing security reasons, Quesnel declined to say how often airport workers are screened for contraband when they enter restricted areas. She did not say why they’re done only on a random basis.

Transport Canada said it does not keep statistics on airport employees charged with on-the-job criminal violations. If the agency obtains information that a worker poses a transportation security risk, “the department responds immediately to refuse, suspend or revoke the clearance of the individual in question,” said Maryse Durette, another Transport Canada spokeswoman.

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7Jun

The Dangers To U.S. & Worldwide Employers From ‘Ban The Box’ Legislation

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To prevent job applicants with criminal records from automatic hiring rejection, cities and states are considering and already adopting so-called “Ban the Box” laws and ordinances. Among the states that have adopted such a law are Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Mexico, and the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. Among the states mulling such legislation are Rhode Island and Nebraska, and the city of Pittsburgh.

This Alert lauds the policy considerations behind “Ban the Box” type of legislation, but points out how it can unintentionally create impossible-hiring decisions and pose huge legal risks for employers.

To read more click here:

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3Jun

Fake Resume Guide

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The all new and updated Fake Resume Guide: The Machiavellian Guide to Getting the Job is ready to download now! Click here and get it now

Some of topics covered in the new guide:

  • How common are background checks now and how to beat them
  • The main reason good liars get job offers and honest people don’t!
  • What to do if the job you’re applying for requires your past W-2’s
  • The 6 dumb mistakes people make when lying on their resume
  • How to rig your resume so it gets picked by the new automated Human Resources systems
  • Why you should lie on your resume but NOT on a job application (hint: it’s a legal reason)
  • Why you can’t afford not to lie on your resume

To read more go to http://www.fakeresume.com/

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27May

Technology helps clear background checks

Categories: Background Check & Due Diligence Web 2.0 Technology
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New machine speeds up process for volunteers

By Stephane Massinon, Calgary Herald

Volunteers waiting for criminal background checks to get approved got good news Wednesday from police, who said they are working through the backlog clogging the system.

But the executive director of Volunteer Alberta says the change is happening too slowly.

Last year, the federal government stipulated that volunteers who work with children or the elderly would have to submit fingerprints as part of criminal background checks if their birthdates and gender match those of a known sex offender.

The idea was to provide an extra measure of security against sex offenders who changed their names and wanted to volunteer to work with kids.

The rule change created a backlog as thousands of people waited for months to get their background checks approved.

In March, Calgary police started using a Live Scan machine to take electronic fingerprints to speed up the process. In June, the CPS will get a second machine.

Calgary Minor Soccer Association executive director Daryl Leinweber said his organization does the second most criminal background searches in Calgary per year, sending over 2,000 background checks to authorities.

“About one-third come back with regard to something on them. That’s an awful lot of people to send down for fingerprinting. That’s why it was really important with regards to the new process and electronic filing,” said Leinweber.

“It looks like now the process is only going to take a couple weeks compared to where it was taking upwards of three months, four months, so that’s awesome.”

The soccer season has already begun, yet over 100 people who want to volunteer are still waiting for their background checks to clear, he said.

Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson, speaking at a news conference about vulnerablesector police checks, as they are called, said the force is working on reducing the backlog and hopes to one day have machines at district offices to do more searches.

“It was a major issue. We’ve since really eaten into the backlog and cut into the time that’s required to complete these and we’re down to about two weeks now,” said Hanson.

Karen Lynch, executive director of Volunteer Alberta, said getting more Live Scan machines is a start, but police also need more people to work them.

“It’s not a question of more machines, although that’s going to be helpful. Machines don’t operate by themselves, you need to have more staff, and that’s been the challenge all along.”

She said police in Edmonton have more staff and do more than double the searches than Calgary can per day.

Hanson also noted that even with security checks, parents should still speak with their children about sexual abuse.

“Unfortunately, people believe that once a security check is done, they don’t have to be vigilant. I’m here to tell you that these vulnerable-sector checks will only identify those that have been convicted. There are still individuals who are out there that are predators that have not been caught yet,” said Hanson.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews was in Calgary to announce that 29 police forces across the country are now working with RCMP and their real-time identification system to lessen the wait times.

“These changes made sure offenders can no longer hide their past sexual offences by simply changing their names,” said Toews.

smassinon@calgaryherald.com

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27May

Credentialing – A Process Which Defines Patient’s Safety!

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by Muhammad Saad Khan

Credentialing is a process which has evolved over the years, and it has added a substantial value to patient’s health care and safety. Although the credentialing processes do vary from organization to organization but the concepts are basically the same in any hospital.

“When bad or imposter physicians slip through the system, patients pay the price!”

To most physicians, the word “credentialing” conjures up visions of needless, tedious paperwork. Professionals in credentialing business view credentialing as the shield of protection for their patients and for the healthy society. This article will define the purpose, process and the outcomes of credentialing.

Hospitals and health care centers all over the globe are aiming for accreditation and they are substantially adopting the best medical credentialing and privileging methods to ensure that the physicians, doctors or even the nurse in-charge of the patient’s treatment has adequate education, training and experience, to maximize the safety in health care system.

Credentialing and privileging are the two important processes which allows a hospital to optimize the utility of its most crucial assets— the specialists (doctors, physicians, surgeons, nurses etc) and provide efficient and quality patient care to foster a healthy society. The concept of credentialing the medical practitioners is gaining momentum with the dawn of corporate healthcare and increasing numbers of hospitals choosing different quality standards.

What is credentialing? How does it stop bad / imposter physicians from reaching patients? Credentialing term is used to describe the process of collecting; verifying; and evaluating the education, training, professional experience, work history, and licensure of providers. The process also includes making recommendations regarding category of medical staff membership and clinical privileges based upon the information received.

How the credentialing process works?

Credentialing is a process by which the organization (hospital or medical/health care centers) verifies the authenticity and appropriateness of the qualifications and work
experience of a medical practitioner. On foremost basis the need has to be determined. This includes minimum number of years of experience, quantity and nature of work done, preference to particular type of institute from where the person has graduated.

A core committee comprising CEO, medical director and senior medical administrator must be on a credentialing bench. Evidence of licensure, registration, certification, and/or other relevant credentials, for verification prior to appointment and throughout the employment check process. Experts must stress on a reference check through a known contact. The credentialing committee passes on its final recommendation/instructions through which the decision has to be made for hiring and privileging.

A Step by Step Credentialing Process:

  • The doctor who applies for association to a hospital fills a credentialing form, giving details of his formal training and work experience.
  • The head of medical services and the department head try to verify these details with the primary source verufor University.
  • A formal reference check is done in communication with a senior professional whom the candidate has trained with or worked under.
  • Assess the need for that particular skill in the organization.
  • Meet the candidate.
  • If found suitable, the candidate is recommended for appointment to the medical staff by the credentialing and privileges committee and the management of the organization.
  • There would also be a review of any medico-legal cases in which the candidate is currently involved.

5 Red Flags When Credentialing the Medical Practitioners:

High mobility:A physician who has moved from state to state or from hospital to hospital every couple of years, who is licensed in several states, or who is a member of the medical staffs of several hospitals in several cities may be attempting to cover up some sort of professional problem.

Professional liability suits:While malpractice claims are not necessarily an indication of a problem, the hospital should be wary of physicians who have been involved in a number of professional liability suits.

Professional disciplinary actions: The hospital should be concerned about physicians who have been disciplined, sanctioned, or suspended, or whose privileges have been restricted by a licensing board or another hospital.

Substance abuse:A practitioner impaired by alcohol or drug abuse may apply for medical staff membership and privileges.

Time gaps:If an application reveals an unexplained time gap in training or professional practice, it should be investigated, (anything over 30 days).

Incomplete application: Incomplete sections relate to questions about licensure, hospital disciplinary actions, liability claims history, and health status.

Benefits of a Fool-Proof Credentialing Process

“Credentialing is like reading between the lines verifying everything claimed with everything verified”. Credentialing is the process which is saving lives and minimizing the risks of medical negligence and medical malpractice. It provides a higher level of trust and guarantee that the medical practitioner is licensed and Board Certified and has not had licenses or privileges revoked in any other purpose or state. It can be helpful in determining the quality of delivery of health care provided by the medical person.

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