PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Rhode Island officials are considering creating a database to conduct background checks on nursing home employees and other health care workers serving elderly patients.
Assistant Attorney General Jim Dube says Rhode Island was promised more than $1.3 million in the federal health care reform bill for the project.
The state has up to two years to establish the criminal convictions database and link it to a national listing.
Nursing homes and other health care facilities for the elderly often work with the attorney general's office for employee background checks — but those reviews disclose only arrests and convictions within Rhode Island.