TITLE 31 HEALTH

Section 7. Regulation and Construction of Hospitals and Other Health Care Facilities, 31-7-1 through 31-7-412.

ARTICLE 14 NURSING HOMES EMPLOYEE RECORDS CHECKS

31-7-351. (Effective October 1, 2019) Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

1. "Applicant" means an individual applying to be a direct access employee at a facility.
2. "Conviction" means a finding or verdict of guilty or a plea of guilty regardless of whether an appeal of the conviction has been sought.
3. "Crime" means commission of:
   1. Any of the following offenses:
      1. A violation of Code Section 16-5-70;
      2. A violation of Code Section 16-5-101;
      3. A violation of Code Section 16-5-102;
      4. A violation of Code Section 16-6-4;
      5. A violation of Code Section 16-6-5;
      6. A violation of Code Section 16-6-5.1; or
      7. A violation of Code Section 30-5-8;
   2. A felony violation of:
      1. Chapter 5, 6, 8, 9, or 13 of Title 16;
      2. Code Section 16-4-1;
      3. Code Section 16-7-2; or
      4. Subsection (f) of Code Section 31-7-12.1; or
   3. Any other offense committed in another jurisdiction which, if committed in this state, would be deemed to constitute an offense identified in this paragraph without regard to its designation elsewhere.
4. "Criminal background check" means a search of the criminal records maintained by GCIC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether an owner, applicant, or employee has a criminal record.
5. 1. "Criminal record" means any of the following:
      1. Conviction of a crime;
      2. Arrest, charge, and sentencing for a crime when:
   2. A plea of nolo contendere was entered to the crime;
   3. First offender treatment without adjudication of guilt was granted to the crime; or
   4. Adjudication or sentence was otherwise withheld or not entered for the crime; or
      1. Arrest and charges for a crime if the charge is pending, unless the time for prosecuting such crime has expired pursuant to Chapter 3 of Title 17.
   5. Such term shall not include an owner, applicant, or employee for which at least ten years have elapsed from the date of his or her criminal background check since the completion of all of the terms of his or her sentence; provided, however, that such ten-year period or exemption shall never apply to any crime identified in subsection (j) of Code Section 42-8-60.
6. "Direct access" means having, or expecting to have, duties that involve routine personal contact with a patient, resident, or client, including face-to-face contact, hands-on physical assistance, verbal cuing, reminding, standing by or monitoring or activities that require the person to be routinely alone with the patient's, resident's, or client's property or access to such property or financial information such as the patient's, resident's, or client's checkbook, debit and credit cards, resident trust funds, banking records, stock accounts, or brokerage accounts.
7. "Employee" means any individual who has direct access and who is hired by a facility through employment, or through a contract with such facility, including, but not limited to, housekeepers, maintenance personnel, dieticians, and any volunteer who has duties that are equivalent to the duties of an employee providing such services. Such term shall not include an individual who contracts with the facility, whether personally or through a company, to provide utility, construction, communications, accounting, quality assurance, human resource management, information technology, legal, or other services if the contracted services are not directly related to providing services to a patient, resident, or client of the facility. Such term shall not include any health care provider, including, but not limited to, physicians, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists who are licensed by the Georgia Composite Medical Board, the Georgia Board of Dentistry, the Georgia Board of Nursing, or the State Board of Pharmacy.
8. "Facility" means:
   1. A personal care home required to be licensed or permitted under Code Section 31-7-12;
   2. An assisted living community required to be licensed under Code Section 31-7-12.2;
   3. A private home care provider required to be licensed under Article 13 of this chapter;
   4. A home health agency as licensed pursuant to Code Section 31-7-151;
   5. A provider of hospice care as licensed pursuant to Code Section 31-7-173;
   6. A nursing home, skilled nursing facility, or intermediate care home licensed pursuant to rules of the department; or
   7. An adult day care facility licensed pursuant to rules of the department.
9. "Fingerprint records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the department based upon fingerprint based national criminal history information.
10. "GCIC" means the Georgia Crime Information Center established under Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Title 35.
11. "License" means the document issued by the department to authorize a facility to operate.
12. "Owner" in the context of a nursing home or intermediate care home means an individual who is not an "excluded party" as such term is defined in Code Section 31-7-3.3, otherwise such term means an individual or any person affiliated with a corporation, partnership, or association with 10 percent or greater ownership interest in a facility who performs one or more of the following:
    1. Purports to or exercises authority of a facility;
    2. Applies to operate or operates a facility;
    3. Maintains an office on the premises of a facility;
    4. Resides at a facility;
    5. Has direct access at a facility;
    6. Provides direct personal supervision of facility personnel by being immediately available to provide assistance and direction when such facility services are being provided; or
    7. Enters into a contract to acquire ownership of a facility.
13. "Records check application" means fingerprints in such form and of such quality as prescribed by GCIC under standards adopted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a records search fee to be established by the department by rule and regulation, payable in such form as the department may direct to cover the cost of obtaining a criminal background check.
14. "Registry check" means a review of the nurse aide registry provided for in Code Section 31-2-14, the state sexual offender registry, and the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities as authorized in Sections 1128 and 1156 of the federal Social Security Act, as it existed on February 1, 2018, or any other registry useful for the administration of this article as specified by rules of the department.
15. "Satisfactory determination" means a written determination that an individual for whom a criminal background check was performed was found to have no criminal record.
16. "Unsatisfactory determination" means a written determination that an individual for whom a criminal background check was performed was found to have a criminal record.

(Code 1981, §31-7-350, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 570, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 806, § 1; Ga. L. 2012, p. 899, § 8-13/HB 1176; Ga. L. 2013, p. 524, § 3-4/HB 78; Code 1981, §31-7-351, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2018, p. 611, § 1-4/SB 406.)

The 2012 amendment, effective July 1, 2012, substituted the present provisions of subparagraph (2)(K) for the former provisions, which read: "A violation of Code Section 16-9-1, relating to forgery in the first degree; a violation of Code Section 16-9-2, relating to forgery in the second degree;".

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, deleted ", relating to aggravated assault" following "Code Section 16-5-21" at the end of subparagraph (2)(A); deleted ", relating to aggravated battery" following "Code Section 16-5-24" at the end of subparagraph (2)(B); deleted ", relating to rape" following "Code Section 16-6-1" at the end of subparagraph (2)(C); deleted ", relating to theft by taking" following "Code Section 16-8-2" at the end of subparagraph (2)(D); deleted ", relating to theft by deception" following "Code Section 16-8-3" at the end of subparagraph (2)(E); deleted ", relating to theft by conversion" following "Code Section 16-8-4" at the end of subparagraph (2)(F); deleted ", relating to murder and felony murder" following "Code Section 16-5-1" at the end of subparagraph (2)(G); deleted ", relating to criminal attempt as it concerns attempted murder" following "Code Section 16-4-1" at the end of subparagraph (2)(H); deleted ", relating to robbery" following "Code Section 16-8-40" at the end of subparagraph (2)(I); deleted ", relating to armed robbery" following "Code Section 16-8-41" at the end of subparagraph (2)(J); added subparagraph (2)(L); redesignated former subparagraphs (2)(L) and (2)(M) as present subparagraphs (2)(M) and (2)(N), respectively; and deleted ", relating to controlled substances" following "Title 16" at the end of subparagraph (2)(M).

The 2018 amendment, effective October 1, 2019, redesignated former Code Section 31-7-350 as present Code Section 31-7-351, and rewrote this Code section.