By a unanimous vote, the Illinois House passed a bill that would require fingerprint-background checks – instead of the current name-based checks – for nursing home workers and other healthcare employees.

The bill (H.B. 1728) would apply to new hires made after October 1, 2007. Supporters believe name-based background checks are faulty because they can miss prior convictions committed under an alias or a different name.

Under the bill, the Illinois Department of Public Health would request the fingerprint and maintain a Health Care Worker Registry, taking the onus off the provider employer, which currently requests the name-based background checks. Fingerprints would be submitted electronically to allow automatic processing through the Illinois State Police and the IDPH.