A security company that has been paid nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds to help do criminal-background checks on nursing home residents has had its state contract canceled in the wake of a Chicago Sun-Times report.
The Illinois State Police will take over the work now being performed by a security company -- a switch that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has said will save money and "provide greater protection for nursing home residents."
The company's contract wasn't scheduled to expire until June 30, but the state health department sent the company a letter on Friday terminating the deal as of May 7.
In February, Gov. Quinn's Nursing Home Safety Task Force concluded that the background checks that the company helps perform often "contain incomplete information" and "are not completed on time."
Asked why the firm was dismissed early, Illionis Health Department Spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said that move was consistent with the task force's mission to ensure "the safety of all nursing home residents."
Arnold also said that having the State Police take over its duties "will provide better and more timely information" about ex-cons who live in nursing homes.
