Frequently Asked Questions

The Health Care Professional Responsibility and Reporting Enhancement Act requires that a criminal history background check be conducted for all health care professionals licensed or certified by the Division of Consumer Affairs by 2009.

Beginning January 16, 2008 , Licensed Practical Nurses, with a license expiration of May 31, 2009 , who have never gone through a criminal history record background check for the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, will begin the background check process.

Licensed Practical Nurses with a license expiration of May 31, 2008 will begin the process following the renewal period.

The background check process includes the following steps:

Step 1. A letter is sent to the licensee along with a Certification and Authorization form.

Step 2. The Certification and Authorization form must be completed and sent back to the Health Care Reporting Unit, P.O. Box 46019 , Newark , NJ 07101 .

Step 3. Once the Health Care Reporting Unit receives the completed Certification and Authorization form, a universal form and letter explaining how to proceed with the fingerprinting process will be mailed to the licensee.

Step 4. Thel icensee schedules an appointment to be fingerprinted by Sagem Morpho, Inc., the vendor under contract with New Jersey for digital fingerprinting, and assumes responsibility for the fee for the entire background check process.

Step 5. The licensee’s fingerprints are electronically forwarded to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) to conduct the criminal history background check.

By now all active Registered Nurses should have received a letter and Certification and Authorization form from the Division of Consumer Affairs’ Health Care Reporting Unit. If you are an actively licensed Registered Nurse and have not yet completed the process, please contact us immediately at S1804@dca.lps.state.nj.us . Please include your name (as printed on your license), license number, full mailing address and a daytime telephone number.

If a licensee chooses not to go through the background check process, he or she will not be able to keep his or her license in an active status. If a licensee is in inactive status, he or she is not required to undergo a criminal history background check. However, in order to reactivate his or her license, the licensee will be required to undergo a criminal history background check.

Please visit www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/chbcfaq.htm to view our Frequently Asked Questions regarding the entire criminal history background check process.