Background verifications in healthcare | Why they are important

An IBEF survey indicates that the Indian Healthcare industry is set to reach US$ 372 billion by 2022[1].  A rising urban population, lifestyle changes, greater awareness about healthcare, and better access to insurance are all driving the rapid growth. But contrary to such growth, why are employee Background Verifications in Healthcare taking a backseat?

In addition to being one of the fastest-growing sectors in India, the Healthcare Industry is one that’s highly regulated. This is because healthcare professionals are known to be caregivers. They care for the health, safety, and privacy of their patients. 

Therefore, as the demand for healthcare increases so does the requirement of genuine healthcare professionals – they need to be certified, exceptionally well trained, and capable of providing quality care to patients. 

However, the Indian Healthcare Industry is far from achieving this feat. With hospitals emphasizing staffing requirements to meet the ever-growing demand, Human Resources seems to be taking every candidate at face value. 

But here’s a way out – Implement Comprehensive Background Verifications. 

An absolute essential for all healthcare organizations is to carry out background verifications for all their potential employees. This helps employers in understanding and evaluating whether the candidate is a good fit for the job. 

The need for employee background verifications in healthcare

Protection against malpractice and frauds

Malpractice and fraud is an ongoing problem in the healthcare industry. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, diagnostics, pharmacies, drug testing, drug standardization, clinical trials, drug invention – the list of avenues to perpetrate fraud is enormous. A number of things can go wrong in the process, and even harm people. Therefore, when patient care is at stake, it’s a wise decision for all healthcare companies to run thorough background checks on a candidate before hiring them.

Create a safe environment 

Healthcare workers have close access to all kinds of patients. Candidates with wrong intentions can take advantage of their role as a caretaker and harm vulnerable patients like children and elderly. However, running comprehensive employee background checks helps in protecting and ensuring the safety of your patients.

Sensitive information at risk

Healthcare employees have complete knowledge about their patients. This includes sensitive information – confidential to every patient. Employees with malicious intent could be misusing such information for illegitimate purposes. Thus, background verifications ensure that every candidate you hire is honest, and comes with an exemplary record.