Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to establish a nationwide system of background checks to prevent people with criminal histories from working in long-term care settings.

The bill, the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, expands on a three-year pilot program that helped to prevent applicants with a criminal record from working in long-term care. Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is expected to introduce a companion bill in the House.

Specifically, the bill calls for states to establish coordinated systems that include checks against abuse and neglect registries and a state police check. It also would require screening applicants against the FBI's national database of criminal history records. Last Congress, the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act was passed unanimously out of the Finance Committee.