AAMC Reporter: July 2008
AAMC Expands Criminal Background Check Testing
The AAMC recently expanded the testing phase of its
criminal background check system for medical school applicants,
with the goal of making the system available to all
medical schools in time to screen the 2010 entering class.
"This will allow us to gain a full body of knowledge," said
the AAMC's Stephen Fitzpatrick, who is overseeing the
system's development. "So far, it is going really well, but we
need a full year of testing to come to a final decision."
One reason for the extra testing time is that, because of
overlapping cycles within the AAMC's American Medical
College Application Service (AMCAS), an extra year of testing
will provide more complete insight into how the medical
school application and background check systems will
operate together, Fitzpatrick said. The expanded testing
also allowed more schools to join the pilot. The original
test covered 10 schools, and the new phase will include 46
additional schools.
To date, the system, which is administered by Pennsylvania-based Certiphi Screening, has conducted
2,223 background checks on medical school applicants.
So far, 33 misdemeanors, 11 dishonorable military
discharges, and no felonies have been detected.
The average turnaround time for each check is 15
days—five days to conduct the background check
itself, followed by a 10-day applicant review period.
James Kleshinski, M.D., associate dean for admissions at
The University of Toledo College of Medicine and a member
of the AAMC's Criminal Background Check Implementation
Advisory Committee, said that unlike some
other schools, Toledo was unfamiliar with the criminal
background check process.
"This was something totally new for us," he said. "Other
institutions had already been doing some testing, but we hadn't. We were eager, but also a little hesitant. It was clear
to us that it was important, because doctors treat vulnerable
populations like children and the elderly. So we were
beyond the question of should we do it. It was more a
matter of how we should do it. What were going to be our
institutional processes and mechanisms?"
In May 2007, Kleshinski and his colleagues gathered
information from the AAMC and other sources on
background check practices and then developed recommendations
for the school's dean, suggesting that
the school join the initial AAMC pilot and adopt
specific internal processes and policies.
"Drafting those recommendations helped us to crystallize
what we wanted in our own minds," Kleshinski said.
Based on those recommendations, the school formed a
Criminal History Review Committee to oversee the pilot
and implementation. Accepted applicants at Toledo are
now given a conditional acceptance pending their passing
of the background check. Every interviewed applicant is
informed of the check during the interview, Kleshinski
said, "so that people are dialed in from the outset."
"Most [applicants] seem to agree that the checks are
something important to do," he added. "As it has unfolded,
this has gone surprisingly smoothly."
In fact, the main surprise from the pilot test has been the
relative lack of surprises. Officials expected everything
from student objections to extensive waiting times, but so
far the test has encountered no significant snags.
"We were afraid there would be long delays, or that our
applicants would be uneasy over the process and decline
consent, which would have created problems," said Robert
A. Witzburg, M.D., chair of the AAMC background check
advisory group and associate dean and admissions director
at Boston University School of Medicine. "But if those
things are happening, they are extremely rare."
Witzburg confessed that he initially expected more resistance
from students, but ultimately realized that many
young people are apparently accustomed to this level
of scrutiny.
"I asked students about privacy concerns, and one said
they underwent a criminal background check when they
applied to be a camp counselor. Another had one when
they wanted to work at a child-care center," Witzburg said.
"So this is old news for them."
The medical school background check system follows the
lead of the hospital community, officials said.
"You can't mop the floor in a hospital without undergoing
a criminal background check," Witzburg said. "It has become
so common and ordinary that no one seems bothered
by it."
Henry Sondheimer, M.D., AAMC senior director of student
affairs and programs, called the medical school
applications period "a logical time to do [background
checks] because it is an entry point into the health
care system."
As the AAMC background check testing continues, and as
medical schools and hospitals come under increasing pressure
to screen their students and employees, Sondheimer
noted that the AAMC is prepared to help schools address
key questions in advance of implementing the
check system.
"The fact of the matter is that these checks are very thorough,"
Sondheimer said. "What we have found is that the
checks were finding events where the applicant had gotten
into trouble, but paid their fine or did their community
service, and the case had been closed. So the applicant
thought the case had been expunged, but in fact these
checks are picking up those events, many of which were
youthful indiscretions. Just because the case was closed
doesn't mean it cannot be found. Schools need to have a
committee to evaluate these kinds of hits, along with all
the other eventualities."
—By Scott Harris
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