State nurse aide registries found lacking.

Relying exclusively on state nurse aide registries to make hiring decisions might be perilous if you consider the findings of a recent Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) report. The OIG found that many states fail to update registries with the names of aides with substantiated findings of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property, as they are required to do. More than half of state survey respondents reported a failure to remove records of inactive nurse aides from their registries. In fact, some people with substantiated adverse findings in one state were actively certified in another. The OIG also found that state-specific practices hampered the usefulness of the registries.

The OIG's recommendations included creating a national registry and having facilities periodically check and report their nurse aides' status. To read the complete report, including other recommendations and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' responses, visit http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-03-00380.pdf.