Study finds many in-home caregivers hired without background screening

A study out of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has found that many nursing agencies recruit people with no experience to provide in-home care to seniors, and they don’t perform adequate background checks on those hires.

The study looked at the qualifications of caregivers who visit the homes of the elderly to assist with daily activities such as dressing and meal preparation. Published in the July 13 issue of the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, the study found that many agencies nationwide fail to conduct criminal background checks or drug testing for new hires. Of the 180 agencies researchers surveyed in the study, 55 percent conducted a federal criminal background check and only one-third of those agencies interviewed administered drug tests.

Although laws vary by state, such caregiver agencies don’t tend to be regulated, said Dr. Lee Lindquist, lead author on the study. Nursing homes, whose services can be funded by Medicare and were not part of this study, are regulated. According to background information in the study, the typical aide is a recent female immigrant, earning $7.25 an hour on average or, for live-in help, $5.44 an hour.

Industry experts -- and common sense -- have long maintained that any business involving the elderly, the sick, and the very young should have stringent, across-the-board background check and drug testing policies in place. 

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