Verify Professional Licenses in the US, using this Guide

License Verification Tool | NNP-BC – Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

With increasingly complex compliance regulations, the need for primary source verification (PSV) of professional licenses is only growing. For human resources professionals, PSV is critical to protect the organization from potential risks associated with hiring or retaining unqualified individuals or failing to properly vet applicants during the onboarding process. PSV is also essential for organizations operating in different industries, such as finance, healthcare, or law, as it helps ensure that individuals carrying out professional tasks are adequately qualified and credentialed for those roles.

This article will look at the need for primary source verification and cover the principles and best practices of this process. It is designed for compliance leads as a guide to understanding the important elements that must be taken into account when vetting professional licenses.

What is Primary Source Verification?

In its simplest form, primary source verification is the process of checking the original source (e.g. a government issuing agency) to confirm that the credentials of an individual are authentic and accurate. This process can be manual or automated. In the former, a person may call or send a letter to an issuing agency to confirm an individual’s credentials; in the latter, an online system may employ an automated system that instantly verifies the status of an individual?s credentials.

In the context of professional licenses, primary source verification is used to ensure that all staff members working for an organization and holding professional licenses are currently licensed, have no outstanding sanctions or disciplinary actions, and are in good standing with their professional societies or industry standards.

Why is Primary Source Verification Important?

In an era of increasingly stringent regulations, having a reliable primary source verification process in place is essential for organizations to maintain compliance. Without it, there is a risk that unlicensed individuals or individuals with encumbrances against them will take up professional roles. Not only can this put the organization at risk, it can also have an adverse effect on the organizations reputation and have a ripple effect across the entire industry.

PSV is also vital to ensure that staff changes and any changes to professional qualifications or disciplinary actions are immediately known. This helps organizations respond quickly to any changes and ensure that roles are filled by appropriately qualified individuals.

Principles of Primary Source Verification

Organizations will need to ensure that their primary source verification process is robust in order to remain compliant and protect the organization. The following principles should be taken into account when developing a process:

Accuracy: The process should be designed to verify the accuracy and authenticity of the qualifications, credentials, and license information provided by applicants. This means that the process should have a ?zero tolerance? policy and look for discrepancies between the information provided by an applicant and that held by the issuing agency.

Integrity: The process should be designed to protect the integrity of the verifying information by ensuring that no one who is not qualified to hold a professional license is employed by an organization.

Confidentiality: Confidentiality of the information obtained and exchanged during the process should be strictly maintained, as it will include sensitive personal and professional information that must be kept protected.

Privacy: Any information obtained during the process should be treated with the highest level of privacy and never shared with anyone who is not directly involved in the verification process.

Timeliness: The process should be designed to be as efficient as possible to ensure timely verification. This is important to ensure that staff changes and any changes to professional qualifications are immediately known.

Best Practices for Primary Source Verification

Organizations should adopt best practices in order to ensure that a primary source verification process is effective and meets the requirements of payment card industry (PCI) standards.

Data Collection: Organizations should collect sufficient data pre-verifying process to ensure that the process is efficient and accurate. This may include information on the individual’s name, date of birth, and professional license number.

Verification: Organizations should contact the issuing agency to confirm the information provided by the applicant. This should include the applicant’s name, professional license number, date of birth, and qualifications to ensure the applicant is eligible to practice in the relevant role.

Documentation: Organizations should ensure that all supporting evidence obtained during the process is securely stored and kept in accordance with data protection regulations. This could include valid copies of professional licenses, certifications, and any relevant documents.

Recertification: Organizations should ensure that their process includes an annual recertification and accreditation process to check the status of professional qualifications and licenses.

Monitoring: Organizations should have in place a system to regularly check and monitor the status of all professional licenses. This may include using an automated system to track and monitor licenses and credentials in one secure system of record.

Concluding remarks

Primary source verification is an essential process for organizations to protect themselves from the risks associated with hiring or retaining unqualified professionals and to ensure the accuracy of professional credentials. Organizations should ensure that they have robust and reliable processes in place to verify the accuracy and authenticity of applicants? professional qualifications and licenses. This should include collecting sufficient data, engaging the issuing agency to confirm information, securely storing documents, and establishing an ongoing monitoring and annual recertification process.

Topics:

Primary Source Verification,

Professional License Verification,

Compliance

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