Health care industry in Nebraska ‘thankful’ after licensing backlog averted

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – It’s no secret: Nebraska is short of medical professionals.

And many were worried about over 160 medical professionals having to wait even longer for their license, all because of fingerprinting, before Gov. Pete Ricketts stepped in this week.

“We have a huge workforce issue in Nebraska when it comes to health care workers, and anything we can do to get them in the door as fast and safely as possible is really the top goal,” said Andy Hale, vice president of advocacy at the Nebraska Hospital Association.

The Nebraska Legislature passed a law last session adding a few medical professionals to the list of those required to be fingerprinted by the FBI before receiving their license.  The problem is the FBI hasn’t begun processing the fingerprints, and they want the state revise the statute.

This week, Gov. Pete Ricketts signed an executive order allowing the Nebraska State Patrol to handle the fingerprinting.

“We haven’t heard that this was an issue; we we’re just concerned it was going to be an issue,” said Andy Hale, vice president of advocacy at the Nebraska Hospital Association. “That’s why we are really thankful the governor stepped in ahead of time, before there became a backlog.”

Hale said the fingerprinting through the state patrol “isn’t as thorough,” but it will do the job.

“We’re not concerned that anyone is going to come into our facility that hasn’t been vetted appropriately,” said Hale.

Hale wasn’t sure how long the medical professionals have been waiting, or if they even had to wait at all, but he did say if something wasn’t done, over 160 people would be stuck.

“If we were still waiting on the FBI for the fingerprints, these individuals would not be able to obtain their license, therefore would not be able to work in our facilities or anywhere in the state,” he said. “They would just be sitting on the sidelines right now, and we need all hands on deck in health care.”

CenterPointe in Lincoln, along with most facilities across the nation, already struggle to find medical professionals. They don’t want anything else to hold them back from filling the open jobs.

“We have a number of processes, background checks and credentialing and things like that,” said Topher Hansen, CenterPointe’s president and CEO. “It’s import to us that those click along fairly fast because then we can get them into service and see people and so on.”