Louisiana FACIS® background checks: Levels 1M & 3 explained
A Louisiana-specific breakdown of the FACIS® healthcare exclusion search: what Level 1M covers, what Level 3 adds from Louisiana boards and Medicaid enforcement, and which level fits which employer.
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Short answer
What is the difference between FACIS® Level 1M and Level 3 in Louisiana?
FACIS® Level 1M covers federal exclusion sources — OIG-LEIE, SAM.gov, and OFAC. FACIS® Level 3 adds Louisiana sources: the Louisiana Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and disciplinary records from the Louisiana medical, nursing, and pharmacy boards. Level 3 is the standard for direct-patient-care and licensed roles.
Every Louisiana organization that bills a federally funded healthcare program — Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or a state Medicaid managed-care plan — is required to verify that its employees, contractors, and vendors are not excluded from participation. FACIS® is the standard tool for that verification. This guide covers what a FACIS® search returns in Louisiana and which level fits your workforce.
What is a FACIS® background check in Louisiana?
FACIS® (Fraud and Abuse Control Information System) is a healthcare-specific sanction database that aggregates federal exclusion and debarment records with state licensing, Medicaid, and Attorney General enforcement data. Run against a Louisiana candidate, a Level 3 FACIS® search reaches into the Louisiana Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the disciplinary records of every Louisiana healthcare licensing board.
Louisiana sources included in FACIS® Level 3
- Louisiana Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List
- Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit enforcement actions
- Louisiana Board of Medicine disciplinary actions
- Louisiana Board of Nursing disciplinary actions
- Louisiana Board of Pharmacy disciplinary actions
- Louisiana dental, behavioral health, and allied-health board actions
- Louisiana Attorney General healthcare-fraud actions
- Louisiana contractor disqualification and debarment lists
Louisiana hiring rules that shape a healthcare screening program
FACIS® answers the exclusion question, but a Louisiana healthcare hire also runs into state-specific reporting and inquiry rules. Louisiana applies FCRA; expungements under La. C.Cr.P. Art. 971 must be suppressed.
Criminal-history inquiry timing. Act 406 of 2021 bars consideration of arrests not leading to conviction and old convictions unrelated to the position for state-licensing decisions. That matters for clinical hiring in Louisiana because a FACIS® hit and a county criminal hit often arrive together, and the order in which you may act on them is set by state law, not by the report.
Drug and cannabis testing. La. R.S. §40:1046 authorizes medical use; no statewide off-duty protection.
Salary history. State-government employers may not inquire about salary history; no statewide private rule.
Practical note for Louisiana providers. Sealed and expunged records under Art. 971 must be suppressed from employer reports.
Primary Louisiana citations: Act 406 (2021) · Act 491 · La. C.Cr.P. Art. 971
Full detail lives in the Louisiana background check guide.
Federal sources included in every FACIS® search
Both Level 1M and Level 3 include the federal exclusion sources that satisfy OIG and CMS baseline requirements for Louisiana providers:
- OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE)
- System for Award Management (SAM), including SDN
- OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list
- FDA Debarment List
- DEA administrative actions
- GSA excluded parties
- TRICARE excluded providers
- U.S. Department of Justice, Treasury, and State healthcare-fraud actions
FACIS® Level 1M vs. Level 3 for Louisiana employers
| Federal exclusion lists | Level 1M ✓ Level 3 ✓ |
| Louisiana Medicaid exclusions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| LA licensing board disciplinary actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| Louisiana AG healthcare-fraud actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
Which Louisiana employers need Level 3?
If any of the following describe your Louisiana organization, Level 3 is the right search. Level 1M is not enough to see LA board sanctions or Louisiana Medicaid exclusions:
- Louisiana hospitals, health systems, and physician groups
- Skilled nursing, assisted-living, and long-term-care operators in Louisiana
- Home health, hospice, and DME suppliers billing Louisiana Medicaid
- Behavioral health, telehealth, and substance-use providers licensed in Louisiana
- Any employer with clinical staff holding a LA license alongside licenses in other states
How often should Louisiana providers re-screen?
The OIG Special Advisory Bulletin recommends monthly re-screening against the LEIE. Louisiana Medicaid enrollment agreements generally impose the same monthly cadence against the Louisiana Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List. A pre-hire FACIS® check is the starting point; continuous monthly monitoring is what catches sanctions that land after the hire date.
How SafestHires runs FACIS® for Louisiana employers
SafestHires offers FACIS® Level 1M and FACIS® Level 3 as standalone searches or bundled into a Louisiana healthcare hiring package alongside primary-source license verification, sex-offender registry checks, and county criminal history. Ongoing monthly monitoring is available for the entire workforce from the same dashboard.
FACIS® turnaround time for Louisiana employers
A single-name FACIS® Level 3 search on a Louisiana candidate typically returns in minutes because most sources are queried via live API. Manual review kicks in only when the search returns a potential match that needs LA board or Louisiana Medicaid-exclusion identifier confirmation before it can be reported. See the SafestHires turnaround guide for a full breakdown of what drives timing across all searches in a Louisiana hire.
Building a complete Louisiana healthcare hiring package
FACIS® is the sanction-and-exclusion layer of a healthcare hire, but it is only one component. A complete Louisiana clinical hiring package typically pairs FACIS® Level 3 with:
- Primary-source license verification against the Louisiana Board of Medicine, Louisiana Board of Nursing, and Louisiana Board of Pharmacy
- County criminal history for every Louisiana county lived or worked in during the FCRA lookback window
- National sex offender registry and Louisiana-specific abuse/neglect registry lookups
- Employment and education verification, including internship and residency dates
- Drug screening under Louisiana employer policy — 5- or 10-panel lab-based
- Financial Risk Search for Louisiana finance, revenue-cycle, and executive roles with fiduciary duties (bankruptcies, judgments, liens from public records)
See Louisiana background check laws for the state-level rules that shape package design, and the package builder to assemble a Louisiana healthcare package end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions about FACIS® in Louisiana
What is the penalty if a Louisiana employer bills for services from an excluded provider?
Under 42 U.S.C. §1320a-7a, civil monetary penalties can reach up to $21,000 per item or service claimed, plus treble damages, plus repayment of every dollar that touched the excluded person's work. State Medicaid Fraud Control Units in Louisiana can pursue additional penalties under state false-claims statutes.
Is a Financial Risk Search recommended for Louisiana healthcare hires?
For clinical roles, FACIS® plus primary-source license verification and county criminal history is the compliance-driven baseline. For Louisiana healthcare finance, revenue-cycle, and executive roles with fiduciary responsibility, the SafestHires Financial Risk Search — bankruptcies, civil judgments, and tax liens from public records — is a common add-on to surface public financial-risk indicators before hire.
Does FACIS® replace primary-source license verification in Louisiana?
No. FACIS® surfaces disciplinary and sanction history, but it does not confirm that a LA license is currently active and in good standing. SafestHires runs primary-source license verification against each Louisiana board alongside FACIS® on every clinical hire.