Associated Press (03/20/13)

A report by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in response to the case of David Kwiatkowski, a traveling health care worker who allegedly exposed patients in several states to hepatitis C, recommends that staffing firms that place technologists be subject to the same licensing rules in the state as nurse staffing firms. Legislation that would institute such licensing rules is being considered by state lawmakers. The department says its investigation revealed that hospitals and staffing firms did not properly screen Kwiatkowski—whose employment history included allegations of drug use and theft—before hiring him and “either did not disclose Mr. Kwiatkowski’s conduct to one another, or favorably represented his job performance to one another, despite evidence of risky conduct, thereby obscuring the risks that Mr. Kwiatkowski posed.”