Please read the following message carefully as it provides essential information for completing your criminal background check (CBC) for licensure.
We recognize finding fingerprinting locations during the COVID-19 healthcare crisis has been a challenge. The Minnesota Health Related Licensing Boards (HLBs) have worked with Governor Walz’s office to find a solution that will facilitate licensing of healthcare professionals throughout the crisis.
On March 27, 2020, Governor Walz signed Emergency Executive Order 20-23 which temporarily defers the fingerprinting requirement for applicants for licensure by the HLBs.
New graduates, if you have not yet completed the National Boards Part IV examination, we recommend that you hold off on proceeding with the criminal background check (CBC) with the fingerprint deferral, as you are not yet eligible to complete your application. Anyone who completes the CBC with the fingerprint deferral will be required to submit fingerprints within 30 days of the end of this peacetime emergency.
Instead, we recommend that you proceed with the CBC once you know that you can take the National Boards Part IV examination within 60 days. It is our hope that, by the time you are scheduled to take the National Boards Part IV, fingerprinting will again be available, avoiding the need for follow up fingerprints for those who cannot complete their application at this time.
Minnesota law now requires that all applicants for initial licensure or license reinstatement must complete a fingerprint-based criminal background check (Minn. Stat. § 214.075). Fingerprints are crosschecked with databases of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The Minnesota Health Licensing Boards have established the Criminal Background Check (CBC) Program to help you efficiently complete this mandatory background check. When you apply for licensure/reinstatement, the CBC fee will be added to your application fee and paid at the same time. Upon receipt of your application and fee, you will be mailed a packet from the CBC office containing additional information and directions. The time required to complete a CBC varies with the workload at the BCA and cannot be expedited. During periods of high volume, the BCA’s search of records may take weeks. Please direct any questions you have about the CBC process to the CBC Program staff.
The CBC report is good for one year from the date the Board receives it. If the timeline expires, you will need to submit a new CBC request and fee. Consider this timeline if your application may take longer than one year. For example, if you are not due to graduate for more than eight months. Additionally, any applicant who refuses a criminal background check will be denied a license.
Previously taken fingerprints cannot be used. Criminal history reports cannot be shared between agencies or used for multiple license applications. Please direct any questions you have about the CBC process to the CBC Program staff.
If you dispute the results of your criminal history report and wish tochallengeits contents, direct your request to the CBC Staff.
Effective May 23, 2019, the CBC requirement for a lapsed license has changed requiring that a CBC is now required for any license that has lapsed for over one year. This includes suspension, revocation, and terminated for non-renewal or CE audit failure, etc. The one year begins on the date the license is removed from "active" status, i.e. expired, suspended revoked, etc. This does not apply to statuses in which the license is allowed to continue to practice, i.e. Inactive-practicing in another jurisdiction, probation or stayed-suspension.
