(a)  For the purposes of this section, a “long-term-care hospital” shall mean a facility as described in 42 U.S.C. § 1395ww(d)(1)(iv), that receives payment for inpatient services it provides to Medicare beneficiaries pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1395ww(m).

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(b)  Any person seeking employment in any long-term-care hospital, having routine contact with a long-term-care hospital patient or having access to such a patient’s belongings or funds, shall undergo a national criminal records check that shall include fingerprints submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by the bureau of criminal identification of the department of attorney general. The national criminal records check shall be processed prior to, or within one week of, employment. All persons who, as of September 30, 2014, are already employed by a long-term-care hospital and all persons who, as of such date, already provide services under this section, shall be exempted from the requirements of this section for purposes of their current employment only.

(1)  The director may, by rule, identify those positions requiring national criminal records checks. The employee, through the employer, shall apply to the bureau of criminal identification of the department of attorney general for a national criminal records check. Upon the discovery of any disqualifying information, as defined in § 23-17-62(c), and in accordance with the rule promulgated by the director, the bureau of criminal identification of the department of attorney general shall inform the applicant, in writing, of the nature of the disqualifying information; and, without disclosing the nature of the disqualifying information, shall notify the employer, in writing, that disqualifying information has been discovered.

(2)  An employee against whom disqualifying information has been found may provide a copy of the national criminal records report to the employer. The employer shall make a judgment regarding the continued employment of the employee.

(3)  In those situations in which no disqualifying information has been found, the bureau of criminal identification of the department of attorney general shall inform the applicant and the employer, in writing, of this fact.

(4)  The employer shall maintain on file, subject to inspection by the department, evidence that statewide criminal records checks have been initiated on all employees seeking employment between October 1, 1991, and September 30, 2014, and the results of the checks. The employer shall maintain on file, subject to inspection by the department, evidence that national criminal records checks have been initiated on all employees seeking employment on or after October 1, 2014, and the results of those checks. Failure to maintain that evidence would be grounds to revoke the license or registration of the employer.

(5)  The employee shall be responsible for the cost of conducting the national criminal records check through the bureau of criminal identification of the department of attorney general.

(c)  Information produced by a national criminal records check pertaining to conviction for the following crimes will result in a letter to the employee and employer disqualifying the applicant from employment: murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, first-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault, assault on persons sixty (60) years of age or older, assault with intent to commit specified felonies (murder, robbery, rape, burglary, or the abominable and detestable crimes against nature), felony assault, patient abuse, neglect or mistreatment of patients, burglary, first-degree arson, robbery, felony drug offenses, felony obtaining money under false pretenses, felony embezzlement, abuse, neglect and/or exploitation of adults with severe impairments, exploitation of elders, felony larceny, or felony banking law violations, or a crime under section 1128(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7(a)). An employee against whom disqualifying information has been found may provide a copy of the national criminal records check to the employer who shall make a judgment regarding the continued employment of the employee. For purposes of this subsection, “conviction” means, in addition to judgments of conviction entered by a court subsequent to a finding of guilty or a plea of guilty, those instances where the defendant has entered a plea of nolo contendere and has received a sentence of probation and those instances where a defendant has entered into a deferred sentence agreement with the attorney general.