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Kansas · Hiring · K.S.A. 65-5117
Every Kansas home health agency, supportive care only included, asks KDADS for an eligibility determination on each applicant before hire. It is not the KBI’s online search: KDADS sees juvenile records the public search does not. KDADS’s system, live since November 19, 2025, runs name-based checks and searches the Kansas Nurse Aide Registry. While a result is pending you may hire someone once, for up to 60 days, under supervision.
Quick answer
For each applicant, "the operator of a home health agency shall request from the Kansas department for aging and disability services an eligibility determination regarding adult and juvenile convictions and adjudications" (K.S.A. 65-5117(e)). KDHE explains why a KBI online search will not do: "These laws allow KDADS access to juvenile records." (KDHE Instruction Guide).
KDADS gives a pass or fail in writing within three working days of receiving the criminal history (K.S.A. 65-5117(f)). While it is pending, you may hire the person once, for up to 60 calendar days, supervised by an employee who has completed all required training (K.S.A. 65-5117(e); K.A.R. 28-51-103(e)). A copy of your request and the result go in the personnel file (K.A.R. 28-51-103(d)(8)-(9)).
6 years
after the sentence for the time-limited bars; a waiver can be asked for after five
K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(2)-(3)For each applicant, the operator "shall request from the Kansas department for aging and disability services an eligibility determination regarding adult and juvenile convictions and adjudications".
K.S.A. 65-5117(e)The statute’s definition of an applicant includes anyone applying to work for an employment agency, or as an independent contractor, that provides staff to a home health agency. KDHE adds that staffing agencies supplying workers must also submit checks.
K.S.A. 65-5117(a)(1); KDHE Instruction Guide"A person who volunteers to assist a home health agency shall not be subject to the provisions of this section unless the volunteer performs functions equivalent to functions performed by direct access employees."
K.S.A. 65-5117(g)You are not required to run a check on an applicant who was checked under the Act within the year before applying. Our suggestion: run your own anyway, because each personnel file must hold a copy of your request and the result (records).
K.S.A. 65-5117(i)Office staff too. The duty covers applicants for employment, not only caregivers. The statute’s own definition of direct access reaches well beyond hands-on care: "‘Direct access’ means work that involves an actual or reasonable expectation of one-on-one interaction with a consumer or a consumer’s property, personally identifiable information, medical records, treatment information or financial information." (K.S.A. 65-5117(a)(4)). By our reading, a scheduler or bookkeeper who can see client files or finances is an applicant to check like anyone else, and CareRulebook’s manual checks every applicant.
Contract and staffing agency workers. "‘Applicant’ means an individual who applies for employment with a home health agency or applies to work for an employment agency or as an independent contractor that provides staff to a home health agency." (K.S.A. 65-5117(a)(1)) KDHE’s guide adds: "Staffing agencies who supply employees to work in an adult care home or home health agency must also submit criminal record checks." (Instruction Guide, Background Checks). Our suggestion: before a staffing agency worker’s first visit, get a copy of their KDADS result for your file, and put that duty in the contract.
The owner. K.S.A. 65-5117 checks the people who work for the agency. If you, as the owner, also visit clients, you work for the agency too, and by our reading you should be checked like any other caregiver. KDHE’s separate review of the administrator and alternate administrator at application is covered in Kansas administrator and manager rules.
The statute’s duties, with KDADS’s published steps for its system in between. Tick steps off as you go; progress is saved in this browser only.
Create a user account, then link your agency. A new provider with no Facility ID selects "Create New Facility". You can add other authorized users.
Use "Request Existing Individual". The system searches KDADS’s records and the Kansas Nurse Aide Registry for an active prohibition. If the person is not found, add them with "Request New Individual".
KDADS’s instructions say that submitting a check attests that both have been checked. More on this.
Click "Request CRC", pay the invoice by card or e-check, then click "Submit CRC". KDADS says the last click is the step most often missed.
Once, for up to 60 calendar days while the result is pending, supervised by an employee who has completed all required training. The rules.
KDADS gives a written pass or fail determination within three working days of receiving the criminal history. In the system the status reads Cleared, Prohibited or Contingent.
A copy of the request and the results, with any registry findings, go in the personnel file. KDHE checks for this evidence in the files you upload.
KDHE licenses your agency, but the checks run through the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), Health Occupations Credentialing. "The new Criminal Record Check (CRC) system went live on Wednesday, November 19, 2025", and "CRCs will continue to be processed as name-based checks" (KDADS, Criminal Record Check Program, archived Aug 2026). KDADS says "the new system now serves as the single location for requesting CRCs and receiving all results", that "Prohibition Letters and Court Letters will no longer be sent via email." and that "The system now supports multiple authorized users for each facility or provider." (KDADS).
What we could not read. KDADS’s website could not be reached when we checked, so this page relies on Internet Archive copies of KDADS’s pages: the program page from August 2026 and the instructions from May 2026. KDADS’s page now links a newer version of the instructions that the archive does not hold. Check the current instructions when you set up your account, and email KDADS at kdads.crcstaff@ks.gov with questions (KDADS).
The statute calls the outcome a pass or fail determination: KDADS provides each operator "with a pass or fail determination after review of any criminal history information in writing and within three working days" of receiving the information from the KBI or the FBI (K.S.A. 65-5117(f)). KDADS’s system shows one of three statuses next to each name:
| Status | What KDADS says it means | What you do (our suggestion) |
|---|---|---|
| Cleared | "No prohibiting offenses were found. The individual is eligible to work." KDADS CRC instructions | File the result. The person can work, subject to your other hiring steps, training and competency. |
| Prohibited | "A prohibiting offense was identified. The individual is not eligible for employment (Employment Prohibition)." KDADS CRC instructions | Do not hire. A provisional employee stops working. Give the person KDADS’s letter and tell them about the waiver and the KBI appeal routes. |
| Contingent | "The individual has a pending court case. They may work, but their status could change to Prohibited depending on the outcome." KDADS CRC instructions | The person may work, but watch for a change. Ask the person to bring the court outcome to KDADS, and do not rely on the status lasting. |
Pending court cases. KDADS said in 2018: "Individuals with pending arrests/charges/court hearings related to offenses that would be prohibited if convicted will be responsible for providing the court documentation regarding the outcomes." It notifies the facility by letter and asks it to share the letter with the person (KDADS letter, June 25, 2018). Those letters now appear in the system rather than by email (KDADS).
Good faith. The statute protects you when you follow it: no home health agency, operator or employee is liable for civil damages over a decision to employ, refuse to employ or discharge someone based on compliance with K.S.A. 65-5117, if the agency "acts in good faith to comply with this section" (K.S.A. 65-5117(e)).
K.S.A. 65-5117(b) sets three groups. KDADS applies them and gives you the result; you do not have to judge a record yourself. KDHE still asks that your background check policy include the offense list: "The policy must also include the current State of Kansas list of offenses, KSA 39-970 and 65-5117" (Instruction Guide, Background Checks). KDADS publishes one list for adult care homes, home health agencies and HCBS providers, effective July 1, 2018 (KDADS, Prohibited Offenses).
No one may knowingly operate a home health agency where anyone works "who has adverse findings on any state or national registry", or who has been convicted of, or adjudicated a juvenile offender for, the crimes listed in (b)(1): capital murder, first and second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, assisting suicide, mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person, human trafficking and aggravated human trafficking, rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, sexual battery and aggravated sexual battery, and the listed sex offenses against children (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(1)). KDADS’s list marks these "Yes": "The prohibition does not expire and waivers are not available." (KDADS list, key). The same goes for an attempt, conspiracy or criminal solicitation to commit one of them (KDADS list, notes 1 to 3).
Paragraph (b)(2) bars, for six years after the sentence, a felony conviction for a crime described in articles 54, 55 or 56 of chapter 21 or in K.S.A. 21-6420 (other than the permanent bars and one article 56 offense the statute leaves out), or for theft under K.S.A. 21-5801, and attempts, conspiracies and solicitations to commit them. (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(2)) KDADS’s list puts each offense in a row with its bar, for example kidnapping, robbery and aggravated battery as six-year bars (KDADS list). The theft bar in (b)(2)(C) does not apply to someone employed by a home health agency on or before July 1, 2010 and continuously employed by the same agency since, or to anyone during or after successfully completing a diversion agreement (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(1)).
Paragraph (b)(3) adds six offenses not limited to felonies (interference with custody of a committed person, mistreatment of a confined person, unlawful administration of a substance, violation of a protective order, promoting obscenity, cruelty to animals) and listed felonies: drug manufacture, cultivation or distribution offenses, forgery, criminal use of a financial card, Medicaid fraud offenses, identity theft or fraud, and social welfare fraud. (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(3)) The (b)(3) bars do not apply to someone employed by a home health agency on or before July 1, 2018 and continuously employed by the same agency since, or to anyone during or after successfully completing a diversion agreement. (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(3))
For both six-year groups, you may employ the person once six or more years have passed since the completion of the sentence or discharge from probation, parole or similar supervision, or since a juvenile was discharged from custody or probation or adjudicated, whichever is longer, or if KDADS has granted a waiver (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(2)-(3)). The statute defines the starting point: "‘Completion of the sentence’ means the last day of the entire term of incarceration imposed by a sentence, including any term that is deferred, suspended or subject to parole, probation, diversion, community corrections, fines, fees, restitution or any other imposed sentencing requirements." (K.S.A. 65-5117(a)(2)). So by our reading, unpaid fines or restitution can keep the clock from starting.
Records from elsewhere. Each group also covers "similar statutes of other states or the federal government" (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)), and the KBI releases convictions and adjudications from any other state or country to KDADS (K.S.A. 65-5117(d)(1)). How fully a name-based check finds out-of-state records is not stated; that is one reason to ask about work and addresses elsewhere at interview.
CareRulebook
CareRulebook’s Kansas manual includes Policy 2.3 (Criminal record checks and provisional employment): the KDADS request before the first day, the OIG exclusion list and sex offender registry searches KDADS asks for before each submission, what to do with each result, contract and staffing agency workers, waivers and disputes, fingerprints if KDADS asks, the one-time 60-day provisional hire with a named supervisor, a KDADS check log and the Kansas list of prohibited offenses for KDHE’s Bkrnd. Chk. folder. Policy 2.2 covers interviews, references and credentials.
$199CareRulebook founding price for the first 50 Kansas agencies, then $249. Not a KDHE fee.
A waiver is the disqualified person’s application to KDADS, not yours. For the six-year offenses, the person "may apply to the secretary for aging and disability services for a waiver of such disqualification if five years have elapsed since completion of the sentence for such conviction" (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(2)-(3)). The statute also says a disqualified person "may apply for a waiver with the department within 30 days of the receipt of the notice of employment prohibition" (K.S.A. 65-5117(d)(6)). By our reading, the safe course is for the person to apply within 30 days of the notice once the five years have passed.
A person with a waiver can apply to you again. Our suggestion: keep a copy of the waiver in their file with the new KDADS result.
The statute says the operator "may hire an applicant for provisional employment on a one-time basis of 60 calendar days pending the results from the Kansas department for aging and disability services", and the rule adds: "Each applicant provisionally hired by a home health agency shall be supervised by an employee who has completed all training required by federal regulations, department regulations, and the home health agency’s policies and procedures." (K.A.R. 28-51-103(e); K.S.A. 65-5117(e)). KDHE asks for a provisional employment policy among your personnel policies (Instruction Guide, Personnel Policies (18)).
CareRulebook’s manual keeps the supervising employee physically present at every client visit a provisional employee makes, records their first day and day 60 on the KDADS check log, and names the supervisor on a provisional employment supervision record (Policy 2.3). That is the manual’s own, cautious practice; the rule sets the minimum.
Fingerprints are not routine yet. The statute lets KDADS require an applicant to be fingerprinted for a state and national check (K.S.A. 65-5117(d)). KDHE’s page still says "National Finger-Print Based Criminal Record Checks will be implemented in phases." (KDHE, Criminal Record Check tab), and KDADS’s November 2025 system processes name-based checks (KDADS). We found no announcement that fingerprints are required for home health agency applicants.
Who pays. "The current or prospective employer of an applicant shall pay a reasonable fee for criminal history record information to the department for each applicant submitted." (K.S.A. 65-5117(d)(4)(A)). If fingerprints are taken, the collection site’s fee is paid there by the employer, the employee or the contractor (K.S.A. 65-5117(d)(4)(B)).
How much. "All fees charged by the secretary for criminal history record checks conducted pursuant to this section shall be established by rules and regulations of the secretary." (K.S.A. 65-5117(k)(1)). KDADS’s March 2020 guide showed $19 a check plus a 48-cent processing fee (KDADS KanCheck guide, 2020, archived), and KDADS said in 2018 there would be no increase until fingerprint checks start. These are KDADS’s fees, not CareRulebook prices, and we could not confirm the current amount: the new system’s invoice shows it when you request a check. Budget for one check per applicant, including people you do not end up hiring. Other start-up costs are on Kansas license cost and timeline.
Not under the current law and rules. K.S.A. 65-5117 and K.A.R. 28-51-103 tie the check to applicants and set no re-check interval. But the bars keep applying to everyone who works for you: no one may knowingly operate an agency where a barred person works (K.S.A. 65-5117(b)(1)). KDHE put it this way in April 2026: "An employee that commits an offense listed on the prohibited offenses after the initial background check is not eligible to be employed by a home health agency." (KDHE, Questions and Feedback).
Health assessments, the TB test and training records sit in the same file; see Kansas caregiver training and health screening (Policy 2.6 in the manual).
No. Home health agencies must request an eligibility determination from KDADS under K.S.A. 65-5117. KDADS can see juvenile records that the KBI online service does not show. You may hire someone provisionally, once, for up to 60 days while the result is pending, under supervision.
"These laws allow KDADS access to juvenile records."
It depends. Not always. Once you have requested the KDADS eligibility determination, you may hire the person provisionally, on a one-time basis, for up to 60 calendar days while the result is pending. A provisional employee may only be supervised by an employee who has completed all required training. And until they have shown competency, the rules keep the manager present at their client visits anyway.
"may hire an applicant for provisional employment on a one-time basis of 60 calendar days pending the results from the Kansas department for aging and disability services"
No. K.S.A. 65-5117 bars adverse findings on a state or national registry and listed offenses, not every conviction. Some offenses, such as murder, mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder and serious sex offenses, bar work permanently. Others bar it for six years after the sentence is complete, and the person can ask KDADS for a waiver after five. A conviction for an offense not on the list does not bar employment under the statute. KDADS makes the pass or fail decision; you act on it.
"may apply to the secretary for aging and disability services for a waiver of such disqualification if five years have elapsed since completion of the sentence for such conviction"
No. Supportive care workers are not home health aides, and the rules set no hours. Each worker must show competency in 10 areas before working without the manager present, be re-checked every year, get annual ongoing training and abuse training at hire and yearly. CNAs can work as supportive care workers but may not use their skilled tasks under this license.
"Each licensee shall ensure that each supportive care worker demonstrates competency before providing supportive care services to a client without the manager being present"
No. K.S.A. 65-5117 requires the operator of a home health agency to request an eligibility determination from KDADS. KDHE explains that KDADS can see juvenile records through the KBI, which the KBI’s public online search does not show. A private or KBI online search can be extra, never a substitute.
The statute says KDADS gives a written pass or fail determination within three working days of receiving the criminal history information from the KBI or the FBI. That clock starts when KDADS has the information, not when you click submit, and KDADS has published no overall turnaround time. In the meantime you may hire the person provisionally, once, for up to 60 calendar days.
The statute says a provisional employee may only be supervised by an employee who has completed all required training. It does not say the supervisor must be present at every visit. Separately, no supportive care worker may serve a client without the manager present until they have demonstrated competency. CareRulebook’s manual keeps a supervisor with provisional employees at every client visit; whether KDHE requires that is on our list of questions for KDHE.
KDADS’s instructions say a Contingent person has a pending court case. They may work, but the status could change to Prohibited depending on the outcome. KDADS said in 2018 that the person is responsible for providing the court documentation of the outcome.
It depends on the offense. Some offenses, such as murder, mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder and serious sex offenses, bar work permanently with no waiver. Others bar work until six years after the sentence is complete, and the person may ask KDADS for a waiver once five years have passed. A conviction for an offense not on the list does not bar employment under the statute. KDADS decides each case.
The statute puts KDADS’s fee on the current or prospective employer. If KDADS ever asks for fingerprints, the collection site’s fee may be paid by the employer, the employee or the independent contractor. KDADS’s 2020 guide showed $19.00 a check plus a 48-cent processing fee; we could not confirm the current amount.
Not under the current law and rules, which set no re-check interval. KDHE’s drafted rewrite of K.A.R. 28-51 would require checks every two years and after any abuse, neglect or exploitation allegation, but it has not been published as a proposed rule.
KDHE has drafted a rewrite of K.A.R. 28-51 that would add background re-checks every two years. No official text has been published yet. Leave your email and we will tell you when a Kansas change affects your hiring checks or your policies.
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