New Mexico FACIS® background checks: Levels 1M & 3 explained
A New Mexico-specific breakdown of the FACIS® healthcare exclusion search: what Level 1M covers, what Level 3 adds from New Mexico 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 New Mexico?
FACIS® Level 1M covers federal exclusion sources — OIG-LEIE, SAM.gov, and OFAC. FACIS® Level 3 adds New Mexico sources: the New Mexico Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the New Mexico Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and disciplinary records from the New Mexico medical, nursing, and pharmacy boards. Level 3 is the standard for direct-patient-care and licensed roles.
Every New Mexico 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 New Mexico and which level fits your workforce.
What is a FACIS® background check in New Mexico?
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 New Mexico candidate, a Level 3 FACIS® search reaches into the New Mexico Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the New Mexico Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the disciplinary records of every New Mexico healthcare licensing board.
New Mexico sources included in FACIS® Level 3
- New Mexico Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List
- New Mexico Medicaid Fraud Control Unit enforcement actions
- New Mexico Board of Medicine disciplinary actions
- New Mexico Board of Nursing disciplinary actions
- New Mexico Board of Pharmacy disciplinary actions
- New Mexico dental, behavioral health, and allied-health board actions
- New Mexico Attorney General healthcare-fraud actions
- New Mexico contractor disqualification and debarment lists
New Mexico hiring rules that shape a healthcare screening program
FACIS® answers the exclusion question, but a New Mexico healthcare hire also runs into state-specific reporting and inquiry rules. New Mexico applies FCRA. Expunged records under N.M. Stat. §29-3A-3 must be suppressed.
Criminal-history inquiry timing. Private employers may consider conviction history only after the candidate has been interviewed or selected as a finalist. That matters for clinical hiring in New Mexico 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. The Cannabis Regulation Act (2021) preserves the employer's right to enforce drug-free workplace policies; medical patients have limited protections.
Salary history. No statewide salary-history ban.
Practical note for New Mexico providers. Conviction inquiry permitted only after interview.
Primary New Mexico citations: N.M. Stat. §28-2-3 (COEA) · HB 2 (2021)
Full detail lives in the New Mexico 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 New Mexico 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 New Mexico employers
| Federal exclusion lists | Level 1M ✓ Level 3 ✓ |
| New Mexico Medicaid exclusions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| NM licensing board disciplinary actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| New Mexico AG healthcare-fraud actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
Which New Mexico employers need Level 3?
If any of the following describe your New Mexico organization, Level 3 is the right search. Level 1M is not enough to see NM board sanctions or New Mexico Medicaid exclusions:
- New Mexico hospitals, health systems, and physician groups
- Skilled nursing, assisted-living, and long-term-care operators in New Mexico
- Home health, hospice, and DME suppliers billing New Mexico Medicaid
- Behavioral health, telehealth, and substance-use providers licensed in New Mexico
- Any employer with clinical staff holding a NM license alongside licenses in other states
How often should New Mexico providers re-screen?
The OIG Special Advisory Bulletin recommends monthly re-screening against the LEIE. New Mexico Medicaid enrollment agreements generally impose the same monthly cadence against the New Mexico 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 New Mexico employers
SafestHires offers FACIS® Level 1M and FACIS® Level 3 as standalone searches or bundled into a New Mexico 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 New Mexico employers
A single-name FACIS® Level 3 search on a New Mexico 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 NM board or New Mexico 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 New Mexico hire.
Building a complete New Mexico healthcare hiring package
FACIS® is the sanction-and-exclusion layer of a healthcare hire, but it is only one component. A complete New Mexico clinical hiring package typically pairs FACIS® Level 3 with:
- Primary-source license verification against the New Mexico Board of Medicine, New Mexico Board of Nursing, and New Mexico Board of Pharmacy
- County criminal history for every New Mexico county lived or worked in during the FCRA lookback window
- National sex offender registry and New Mexico-specific abuse/neglect registry lookups
- Employment and education verification, including internship and residency dates
- Drug screening under New Mexico employer policy — 5- or 10-panel lab-based
- Financial Risk Search for New Mexico finance, revenue-cycle, and executive roles with fiduciary duties (bankruptcies, judgments, liens from public records)
See New Mexico background check laws for the state-level rules that shape package design, and the package builder to assemble a New Mexico healthcare package end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions about FACIS® in New Mexico
What is the penalty if a New Mexico 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 New Mexico can pursue additional penalties under state false-claims statutes.
Is a Financial Risk Search recommended for New Mexico healthcare hires?
For clinical roles, FACIS® plus primary-source license verification and county criminal history is the compliance-driven baseline. For New Mexico 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 New Mexico?
No. FACIS® surfaces disciplinary and sanction history, but it does not confirm that a NM license is currently active and in good standing. SafestHires runs primary-source license verification against each New Mexico board alongside FACIS® on every clinical hire.