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State may track adult caregivers
Database could reveal workers who abuse

April 05. 2006 8:00AM
Lawmakers want to more thoroughly screen those who care for elderly or disabled adults.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee is reviewing a bill that would create a registry for workers with a history of abusing, neglecting or exploiting vulnerable adults. At a hearing yesterday, social workers and other supporters said the database would reduce cases of abuse, which have been increasing over the past few years.
" It's really a way of protecting someone before something bad has happened to them," said Richard Cohen, executive director of the Disabilities Rights Center. "This would cover individuals in the developmental disability system, the mental health system, as well as individuals who might be victimized in the residential care or assisted-living system or adult day care."
The registry would mirror one already in place for child-care workers and would record the names of paid caregivers found guilty of abuse either through the courts or through internal investigations. Any agency that receives money from New Hampshire's Department of Health and Human Services would have to use the database to screen potential workers. Lawmakers also want to create a committee to study how to eventually link the new database with the one that monitors child abuse.
Mental-health centers, assisted-living facilities and visiting nurse agencies already perform criminal background checks on many employees, and nursing home workers are further screened under federal law. But Cohen said the bulk of abuse cases never make it to court.
From 1994 to 1998, the most recent figures available, there were 560 substantiated cases of abuse against adults with developmental disabilities. Only 11 of those were referred to the courts; the rest were handled by internal health department inquiries.
" Nevertheless, the person has committed abuse and neglect and probably shouldn't work in the system again," Cohen said.
No one at yesterday's hearing spoke against the bill, which passed the House earlier this year. But Rep. Bernard Buzzell, a Berlin Democrat and mental-health worker, cautioned that some cases of abuse or neglect are the unintentional result of poor training.
" There's a lot of gray areas,"he said. "Before labeling a family caregiver a perpetrator, we need to look at those issues."
The bill allows those accused of abuse to appeal findings in internal investigations, and names would be erased from the registry after seven years.
Prospective employers can request a waiver from the department if they feel someone in the registry is fit for a job.
Health Commissioner John Stephen spoke in favor of the bill but warned that the registry would require several additional employees and cost up to $300,000 over the next two years.
" I guess I'll take this up with the Fiscal Committee," he said. "But I do not at this point have the funding. If this bill happens and we don't have adequate staff, it's not going to make a difference."

By MEG HECKMAN