Criminal background checks and additional hiring assistance
After you have identified an individual you wish to hire through the MassHealth PCA program, you will need to check the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities maintained by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The list prevents certain individuals and businesses from participating in Federally-funded health care programs.
Reasons for exclusion include convictions for program-related fraud and patient abuse, licensing board actions and default on Health Education Assistance Loans.
The effect of an exclusion (not being able to participate) is that no payment will be made by any Federal health care program for any items or services furnished, ordered, or prescribed by an excluded individual or entity. Federal health care programs include Medicare, Medicaid, and all other plans and programs that provide health benefits funded directly or indirectly by the United States.
To check if an individual is listed by the OIG, you only need to enter their name on the Exclusion Search page. The MassHealth PCA program can NOT provide payment for PCA services to a person whose name is listed.
Once you have established that a person is not on the OIG exclusion list, you still may wish to conduct a criminal or other background check.
The Criminal Systems History Board may help you obtain Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) on an individual whom you wish to hire. The CORI program is FREE for elders 60+ and people with disabilities. You may download a form online. Telephone the CORI board 617-660-4600 for additional information.
You may also wish to obtain information about The Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC) or sex offenders. Please note that these links will give you information only about acts committed in Massachusetts.
Your PCM agency may provide additional information about the benefits of reference and background checks.