Utah FACIS® background checks: Levels 1M & 3 explained
A Utah-specific breakdown of the FACIS® healthcare exclusion search: what Level 1M covers, what Level 3 adds from Utah 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 Utah?
FACIS® Level 1M covers federal exclusion sources — OIG-LEIE, SAM.gov, and OFAC. FACIS® Level 3 adds Utah sources: the Utah Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the Utah Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and disciplinary records from the Utah medical, nursing, and pharmacy boards. Level 3 is the standard for direct-patient-care and licensed roles.
Every Utah 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 Utah and which level fits your workforce.
What is a FACIS® background check in Utah?
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 Utah candidate, a Level 3 FACIS® search reaches into the Utah Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List, the Utah Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the disciplinary records of every Utah healthcare licensing board.
Utah sources included in FACIS® Level 3
- Utah Medicaid Sanctioned or Excluded Provider List
- Utah Medicaid Fraud Control Unit enforcement actions
- Utah Board of Medicine disciplinary actions
- Utah Board of Nursing disciplinary actions
- Utah Board of Pharmacy disciplinary actions
- Utah dental, behavioral health, and allied-health board actions
- Utah Attorney General healthcare-fraud actions
- Utah contractor disqualification and debarment lists
Utah hiring rules that shape a healthcare screening program
FACIS® answers the exclusion question, but a Utah healthcare hire also runs into state-specific reporting and inquiry rules. Utah applies FCRA. Expunged records under Utah Code §77-40 must be suppressed.
Criminal-history inquiry timing. State-agency hiring removed the conviction question from initial applications. That matters for clinical hiring in Utah 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. Utah Medical Cannabis Act protects registered patients from adverse action by state and local government employers; private employers may continue to enforce drug-free workplace policies.
Salary history. No statewide salary-history ban.
Practical note for Utah providers. E-Verify is mandatory for employers with 15+ workers.
Primary Utah citations: Utah Code §34-52-201 · Utah Medical Cannabis Act · Utah Code §77-40
Full detail lives in the Utah 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 Utah 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 Utah employers
| Federal exclusion lists | Level 1M ✓ Level 3 ✓ |
| Utah Medicaid exclusions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| UT licensing board disciplinary actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
| Utah AG healthcare-fraud actions | Level 1M ✗ Level 3 ✓ |
Which Utah employers need Level 3?
If any of the following describe your Utah organization, Level 3 is the right search. Level 1M is not enough to see UT board sanctions or Utah Medicaid exclusions:
- Utah hospitals, health systems, and physician groups
- Skilled nursing, assisted-living, and long-term-care operators in Utah
- Home health, hospice, and DME suppliers billing Utah Medicaid
- Behavioral health, telehealth, and substance-use providers licensed in Utah
- Any employer with clinical staff holding a UT license alongside licenses in other states
How often should Utah providers re-screen?
The OIG Special Advisory Bulletin recommends monthly re-screening against the LEIE. Utah Medicaid enrollment agreements generally impose the same monthly cadence against the Utah 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 Utah employers
SafestHires offers FACIS® Level 1M and FACIS® Level 3 as standalone searches or bundled into a Utah 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 Utah employers
A single-name FACIS® Level 3 search on a Utah 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 UT board or Utah 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 Utah hire.
Building a complete Utah healthcare hiring package
FACIS® is the sanction-and-exclusion layer of a healthcare hire, but it is only one component. A complete Utah clinical hiring package typically pairs FACIS® Level 3 with:
- Primary-source license verification against the Utah Board of Medicine, Utah Board of Nursing, and Utah Board of Pharmacy
- County criminal history for every Utah county lived or worked in during the FCRA lookback window
- National sex offender registry and Utah-specific abuse/neglect registry lookups
- Employment and education verification, including internship and residency dates
- Drug screening under Utah employer policy — 5- or 10-panel lab-based
- Financial Risk Search for Utah finance, revenue-cycle, and executive roles with fiduciary duties (bankruptcies, judgments, liens from public records)
See Utah background check laws for the state-level rules that shape package design, and the package builder to assemble a Utah healthcare package end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions about FACIS® in Utah
What is the penalty if a Utah 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 Utah can pursue additional penalties under state false-claims statutes.
Is a Financial Risk Search recommended for Utah healthcare hires?
For clinical roles, FACIS® plus primary-source license verification and county criminal history is the compliance-driven baseline. For Utah 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 Utah?
No. FACIS® surfaces disciplinary and sanction history, but it does not confirm that a UT license is currently active and in good standing. SafestHires runs primary-source license verification against each Utah board alongside FACIS® on every clinical hire.