Background

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided funding to States including the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) for the National Background Check Program (NBCP).   The NBCP supports States in establishing a criminal background check program for long-term care facilities and providers.  The NBCP aims to protect vulnerable residents and clients who receive direct care and services within a long-term care setting.   In conjunction with this Federal initiative, Connecticut has enacted Section 19a-491c of the General Statutes, requiring state and national criminal history and patient abuse background searches for certain individuals in long-term care settings.

DPH has established a web-based portal referred to as the Applicant Background Check Management System (ABCMS).  The ABCMS supports the background check processes set forth within Section 19a-491c, which requires, in part, that newly-hired direct care employees of long-term care facilities obtain fingerprint-based criminal history records checks, as well as checks of several relevant registries, prior to employment. 

DPH has worked with CMS and the State of Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) to develop a web-based system to provide long-term care facilities and providers with a database to process the background checks.  DPH will oversee the ABCMS.  DESPP works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to support this initiative. 

Please refer to the State of Connecticut’s General Statute Section 19a-491c for additional information.

Statutes and Regulations

• Notice of Policies and Procedures - Connecticut Law Journal, August 18, 2015
• Connecticut's General Statute, Section 19a-491c. effective January 1, 2012
• Subsection (f) of section 19a-491c of the general statutes as amended by P.A. 17-146, Sec. 19 (effective October 1, 2017)

Reports  

• Report to the General Assembly (February 2012)
• CMS NBCP Long Term Care Criminal Conviction Workgroup Report (December 2012)
• OIG Report: Nursing Facilities Employment of Individuals with Criminal Convictions (March 2011)
• OIG Report:  Home Health Agencies Conducted Background Checks of Varying Types (May 2015)

• ABCMS Workflow Diagram
• Brief Overview of the ABCMS
• Use of the ABCMS: 5 Steps
• Frequently Asked Questions Document (updated May 2021)

The applicant needs to complete the “Consent and Disclosure Form” and the “Fingerprinting Information Form”. 

• Consent and Disclosure Form
  
  The FBI has instructed DPH to make revisions to pages 7 to 9 of the Consent Form (Consent Form updated May 2020). Please use this revised Consent Form for all future applicants in the system. This form replaces the previous version of the form. If you have hard copies of the prior version of this Consent Form, please recycle and replace with this updated version. Please note the change that an applicant signature is required on three pages - pages 4, 7 and 9.

• Fingerprinting Information Form
• Fingerprinting Authorization Form

Upon arrival at the CT State troop, each applicant needs to present the provider-generated “Fingerprinting Authorization Form” to the CT State Trooper at time of fingerprinting.

   When calling Connecticut troop locations to inquire about the availability of fingerprinting services, please indicate that this is for a DPH long-term care applicant needing to be fingerprinted as part of the DPH long-term care background check program.

• Waiver Application Form

Communications

• ABCMS System User Manual (updated January 2018) 

ABCMS Video Tutorials

• ABCMS Training Videos

Please use the ABCMS Training Videos link, above, to access video tutorial chapters in each of the following topics:

• How to Login to the ABCMS
• How to Enter a New Applicant
• How to View Determinations In-Process
• How to View Determinations when Available
• How to Enter an Application for an applicant already in the system
• How to Utilize the "Flagged for Review" feature
• How to Review Reports
• Administrator Training  

NIC Connecticut (NIC CT)

• NIC Connecticut (NIC CT): Customer Database Billing System (CDB) Overview
• NIC Connecticut (NIC CT): How to Update Payment Information Online

• NBCP (National Background Check Program)
• DESPP (Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection)
• DSS (Department of Social Services)
• FBI - Criminal Background Check
• CT Department on Aging