(1)(a) Level 2 background screening pursuant to chapter 435 is required for direct service providers. Background screening includes employment history checks as provided in s. 435.03(1) and local criminal records checks through local law enforcement agencies.
(b) For purposes of this section, the term “direct service provider” means a person 18 years of age or older who, pursuant to a program to provide services to the elderly, has direct, face-to-face contact with a client while providing services to the client or has access to the client’s living areas or to the client’s funds or personal property. The term includes coordinators, managers, and supervisors of residential facilities and volunteers.
(2) Licensed physicians, nurses, or other professionals licensed by the Department of Health are not subject to background screening if they are providing a service that is within the scope of their licensed practice.
(3) Refusal on the part of an employer to dismiss a manager, supervisor, or direct service provider who has been found to be in noncompliance with standards of this section shall result in the automatic denial, termination, or revocation of the license or certification, rate agreement, purchase order, or contract, in addition to any other remedies authorized by law.
(4) The background screening conducted pursuant to this section must ensure that, in addition to the disqualifying offenses listed in s. 435.04, no person subject to the provisions of this section has an arrest awaiting final disposition for, has been found guilty of, regardless of adjudication, or entered a plea of nolo contendere or guilty to, or has been adjudicated delinquent and the record has not been sealed or expunged for, any offense prohibited under any of the following provisions of state law or similar law of another jurisdiction:
(a) Any authorizing statutes, if the offense was a felony.
(b) Section 409.920, relating to Medicaid provider fraud.