A nurse staffing agency that supplied replacement nurses during hospital strikes in New Jersey last year has agreed to pay a $235,000 fine to settle allegations it skipped required background checks on many nurses, among other violations.
The temporary nursing firm, U.S. Nursing Corp. of Greenwood Village, Colo., paid the fine Friday, when the settlement was announced by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
The company supplied nurses to replace union nurses on strike last year at two hospitals: Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
Consumer Affairs spokesman Jeff Lamm could not say how many replacement nurses the company provided to the hospitals, nor the number on which it failed to perform background checks.
"It happened often enough to trigger our investigation," Lamm said.
Since 2005, New Jersey law has required that all licensed health care professionals undergo criminal background checks.
The law was passed after former nurse Charles Cullen admitted killing dozens of patients over 16 years at nine hospitals and a nursing home, moving from job to job despite a spotty employment record. The law also gives hospitals and other health facilities legal protection when they disclose disciplinary actions and improper patient care involving former employees.
U.S. Nursing did not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement, but agreed that when operating in New Jersey it will follow the state's regulations, including providing proof of each nurse's professional license status and malpractice insurance. The company also must verify the work history of each nurse applying for a job for the prior year.
"This information is critical to safeguarding the well-being of patients," Attorney General Stuart Rabner said in a statement.
Lamm said all the requirements spelled out for U.S. Nursing in the settlement are in response to an alleged violation.
U.S. Nursing also supplied temporary nurses to at least 16 other hospitals in New Jersey from 2004 through 2006, according to the consent order settling the case. Lamm said the Consumer Affairs Division is not aware of any violations by the company at those hospitals.
U.S. Nursing's general counsel, Dick Green, said the company settled because its cost of defense would have outstripped the cost of the settlement. He said all the nurses it supplied were licensed, had background checks and had the correct qualifications for the specialties to which they were assigned.
