While background checks are the norm in medical professions, one state is falling behind the expectations.
The Department of Consumer Affairs recently released a report showing that more than 100,000 California healthcare professionals, including doctors, dentists and therapists, have not completed the required state background checks to receive licenses.
According to an article by the Los Angeles Times, about 104,000 medical professionals have not been fingerprinted. A further study by the Times and ProPublica revealed that about 195,000 of the state’s registered and vocational nurses also have not completed background checks.
As a result of these studies, the 20 healthcare boards and bureaus the DCA oversees have been ordered to collect fingerprints and perform background checks where it’s necessary.
Part of the reason so many professionals have not completed fingerprinting and background checks is that the state’s various medical boards have differing rules on required checks. For instance, the Dental Board of California has required fingerprints since 1986, but has hardly any on file for dentists licensed before that time.
In 2006, healthcare was the largest industry in the country, creating 14 million jobs, 13.6 million jobs for wage and salary workers and 438,000 self-employed positions. Of the 20 fastest growing occupations, seven are in the healthcare industry, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The healthcare industry is expected to create 3 million new wage and salary jobs through 2016, more than any other industry.
About 580,000 establishments make up the healthcare industry, including hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, offices of physicians, offices of dentists, home healthcare services, offices of other health practitioners, outpatient care centers, other ambulatory healthcare services and medical and diagnostic laboratories.
Almost 77 percent of healthcare establishments are offices of physicians, dentists or other health practitioners, and although hospitals make up 1 percent of all healthcare establishments, they employ 35 percent of workers in the industry.
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