Alaska expands background checks to all medical professionals

The Alaska Senate Health Committee voted Thursday to require criminal background checks for all medical professionals licensed by the State Medical Board, expanding a requirement that originally applied only to doctors seeking licenses through interstate compacts.

The change affects physicians, osteopathic physicians, podiatrists, and physician assistants. While Alaska's Department of Health already requires fingerprint-based background checks for healthcare workers in licensed facilities, current law does not mandate them for all State Medical Board licensees.

"This is essential for the health and safety of Alaskans, most of whom assume background checks are already a licensure requirement," committee aide Ariel Harbison said.

The expanded background check requirement came as part of a committee substitute for Senate Bill 281, which primarily establishes Alaska's participation in four interstate medical licensure compacts. The Department of Public Safety requested the changes to comply with federal law governing criminal justice information sharing.

"Our office received a few requests regarding background checks and fingerprinting for licensure under these compacts. Without clarifying statutory language, the Department of Public Safety would be unable to process background checks required under these healthcare compacts," Harbison said. The compact language alone is insufficient to authorize national criminal history record checks.

Federal law, Public Law 92-544, requires that criminal justice information shared for non-criminal justice purposes, such as licensing, can only be disclosed to government entities and must be used solely for the authorized purpose. The committee substitute adds language explicitly limiting the use and dissemination of criminal justice information collected through background checks to what federal law authorizes.

Lisa Parenton, director of statewide services for the Department of Public Safety, explained that the department must comply with Public Law 92-544 to access national criminal history records maintained by the FBI. State records can be released under state law, but national checks require federal compliance.

"We are required to comply with the requirements of that in order to request national criminal history records," Parenton said.

The background check process currently relies on manual fingerprint cards submitted on paper, a system Senator Forrest Dunbar called "ponderously slow" and possibly unique to Alaska. Parenton said the department converted from a 40-year-old mainframe system to a modern platform in late January and is exploring electronic fingerprint submission with licensing agencies.

About 95 percent of criminal arrest fingerprints are already submitted electronically, mostly from Department of Corrections facilities. But 90 percent of non-criminal justice applicant cards for employment and licensing remain manual processes.