General BCI Requirements

What is a BCI?
Why do I need a BCI?
What are automatic bars?
Who looks at my BCI?
How is my BCI Reviewed?
When should I complete my BCI?
What if I am conditionally/provisionally accepted and my BCI is not cleared?
What if I incur a new criminal charge after my BCI is already complete?
Will I ever have to repeat the BCI?
What is the cost of the BCI?
What form of payment is accepted?
Where do I go to get the BCI?
How long does it take my BCI report to come back?

What is a BCI? 
A BCI is a search and report of criminal records, also known as a background check. The BCIs are conducted by CastleBranch (Effective October 1, 2016) and completed by the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. The BCIs include fingerprinting, a social security number trace, county record search, state search and a check of Federal Bureau of Investigation records. 

Why do I need a BCI? 
Admission into a program is contingent upon the BCI indicating that the applicant has not been convicted of, has not pleaded guilty to, and has not had a judicial finding of guilt for:

Any automatically barred offenses per the program’s licensing or regulating body, or an offense or offenses when taken together that may prevent the student from meeting the requirements of the program’s licensing or regulating body.  Students may not be permitted to test for licensure/accreditation by the licensing or regulating body if they have certain negative information on their background report. 

Further, some of the programs require clinical/practicum/internship rotation(s) at medical and non-medical facilities to complete the program.  These facilities may consider certain criminal offenses or combination of offenses to be offenses that will bar students from performing clinical/practicum/internship rotations.  These offenses vary from facility to facility and may interfere with a student’s ability to complete their mandatory clinical/practicum/internship rotations successfully.  The inability of the program to place a student in a facility for clinical/practicum/internship rotations, based upon information found on the applicant’s BCI, may cause a student to be denied from entering the program. 

A student may also be limited as to which clinical/practicum/internship they can attend, by the information found on their BCI. Students with these limitations may be delayed in the progress or completion of their chosen programs. 

The College cannot guarantee placement at the facility(ies) that may be required for completion, for students with negative information on their BCI.   Further, the college is under no obligation to find a replacement facility when a student is denied clinical/practicum/internship rotations while enrolled in a health career program, due to the information found on the student’s BCI.

In addition, students who misrepresent and/or falsify criminal background information may be terminated from their program at any time.  If a student is dismissed from a program due to negative information on their background report or for misrepresentation and/or falsification of the information contained in their criminal background report, the student is responsible for withdrawing from their coursework and is financially responsible for all costs incurred. 

What are automatic bars? 
Automatic bars are offenses that would automatically preclude a student from entering a program, obtaining certification/licensure and/or entering a clinical/practicum/internship facility.  The automatic bars vary from program to program and facility to facility.  Students may review the guidelines that are used to evaluate the background checks by clicking the individual program links .

Who looks at my BCI? 
The results of the BCI will be sent directly to the Health Careers Clinical Compliancy Program Manager for review and recommendation regarding admission into the applicable program.  The contents of the BCI may be shared with outside clinical/practicum/internship facilities in order to determine if the facility will accept the student.  In addition, program managers and health care deans may also view the contents of a student’s BCI in order to determine the student’s eligibility for clinical/practicum/internship placement.

How is my BCI Reviewed?
Each student BCI is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.  The review of a student BCI will result in a recommendation for acceptance or denial into a student health career program, based upon the information contained within the student BCI.  The factors involved in the individual case review may include, but not be limited to:

the degree, nature and circumstances of any reported offense(s)the frequency of any reported offense(s)the length of time since the offense(s)available information that addresses efforts of rehabilitation the accuracy of the information provided by the applicant in their application materials the relationship between the duties to be performed as part of the educational program and the offense committed 

Students will be permitted to provide documentation or personal statements evidencing their rehabilitation and any mitigating circumstances regarding their offenses.  It is the goal of the College to provide to all students, regardless of their past criminal history, the best opportunities possible for pursuing educational achievements and gainful employment in their chosen career path.  However, certain offenses may preclude students from entering into and pursuing one or more health career fields.  The College will make its best effort to direct the students to a health career field in which the results of their BCI will not preclude them. 

Clearance of a BCI and acceptance into a health career program DOES NOT guarantee certification, registration, licensure or future employment.   

When should I complete my BCI?
The BCI process may begin no sooner than six months prior to entry into a program and no later than the first day of program entry. (Program entry is defined as the first day of class in which the student begins his/her healthcare or nursing program.)  Each program may have additional stipulations regarding the timing of the BCI.  For example, some programs may want you to wait until three months prior to entry.  However, you will not be permitted to begin a BCI prior to the six-month guideline.  Please be sure to check with your specific program to ensure compliance with their BCI policies.

The BCI must be completed, reviewed and cleared prior to full acceptance into the program.  Some programs allow for conditional/provisional acceptance, pending the results of the BCI. Students with conditional/provisional acceptance will not be allowed to practice their program skills on patients or other students or perform at clinical facilities until the BCI process is complete. 

The BCI will be valid as long as the student is continually enrolled in a health career program.  Students, who have left and returned to a health career program or transitioned to another health career program may require another BCI.  

Background checks completed by another vendor, employer, or background checks completed while enrolled at another school will not be accepted. 

What if I am conditionally/provisionally accepted and my BCI is not cleared?
If a student is accepted into a program with conditions/provisions and does not meet the BCI requirements for their chosen program, the student will be notified in writing. The student must immediately withdraw from the program and associated courses. Students will be responsible for any costs while enrolled and will continue to incur expenses until the withdrawal process has been completed.

What if I incur a new criminal charge after my BCI is already complete? 
Students must disclose any new offenses to their respective health career program manager that have occurred during their course of studies or while on a break or leave from their course of studies (within 30 days of conviction).  Failure to report a new offense may result in dismissal from the program.

Will I ever have to repeat the BCI?
Although we make every attempt to minimize the BCI to one time while you are a student in your respective health career program, there may be certain instances where you will have to repeat the background check.  These include, but ARE NOT LIMITED TO the following:

• Readmission following a withdrawal or interruption in program progression
• Upon self-disclosure of an offense after the original background check has been completed
• Notification of an offense by a legal entity or clinical affiliate to the school after the original background check has been completed
• If required by the clinical site

What is the cost of the BCI? 
 The cost of a BCI varies depending upon Ohio residency status.  If you have continually been an Ohio resident for the past five years the cost for an in state BCI is currently $90.00, if you have lived outside of Ohio within the past five years the cost is currently $121.00.  The price includes fingerprinting and health requirement management via CastleBranch.   Students should not initiate the background check until advised to do so. Executing a background check prematurely may result in repeating the process at the student's expense. Costs are subject to change at any time.

What form of payment is accepted?
Payment options include Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Debit, electronic check and money orders.

Where do I go to get the BCI? 
The BCI registration process is first started online through CastleBranch. Once the registration process is complete, Students will receive instructions for completing the fingerprint portion.

How long does it take my BCI report to come back?
After the online portion and the fingerprinting are done, the BCI report can take anywhere from 2 to 60 days to complete and be available for review.