{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-209.032","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 209.032","heading":"Query as to whether prospective or current employee has validated","body":"substantiated finding of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation -- Administrative\nregulations -- Central registry of substantiated findings.\n(1) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Employee\" means a person who:\n1. Is hired directly or through a contract by a vulnerable adult services\nprovider who has duties that involve or may involve one -on-one contact\nwith a patient, resident, or client; or\n2. Is a volunteer who has duties that are e quivalent to the duties of an\nemployee providing direct services and the duties involve, or may\ninvolve, one-on-one contact with a patient, resident, or client;\n(b) \"Validated substantiated finding of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation\"\nmeans that the cabinet has:\n1. Entered a final order concluding by a preponderance of the evidence that\nan individual has committed adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation against\na different adult for whom the individual was providing care or services\nas an employee or otherwise with the expectation of compensation;\n2. The individual has been afforded an opportunity for an administrative\nhearing under procedures compliant with KRS Chapter 13B, and an\nappeal to the Circuit Court of the county where the abuse, neglect, or\nexploitation is alleged to have occurred or, if the individual consents, to\nthe Franklin Circuit Court; and\n3. That any appeal, including the time allowed for filing an appeal, has\nconcluded or expired; and\n(c) \"Vulnerable adult service provider\" means:\n1. Adult day health care program centers as defined in KRS 216B.0441;\n2. Adult day training facilities;\n3. Assisted-living communities as defined in KRS 194A.700;\n4. Boarding homes as defined in KRS 216B.300;\n5. Group homes for individuals with an intellectual disability and\ndevelopmentally disabled (ID/DD);\n6. Home health agencies as defined in KRS 216.935;\n7. Hospice programs or residential hospice facilities licensed under KRS\nChapter 216B;\n8. Long-term-care hos pitals as defined in 42 U.S.C. sec.\n1395ww(d)(1)(B)(iv);\n9. Long-term-care facilities as defined in KRS 216.510;\n10. Personal services agencies as defined in KRS 216.710;\n11. Providers of home and community-based services authorized under KRS\nChapter 205, including home and community based waiver services and\nsupports for community living services; and\n12. State-owned and operated psychiatric hospitals.\n(2) A vulnerable adult services provider shall query the cabinet as to whether a\nvalidated substantiated finding of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation has been\nentered against an individual who is a bona fide prospective employee of the\nprovider. The provider may periodically submit similar queries as to its current\nemployees and volunteers. The cabinet sh all, except as provided under subsection\n(5) of this section and any administrative regulations promulgated thereunder, reply\nto either type of query only that it has or has not entered such a finding against the\nnamed individual.\n(3) An individual may que ry the cabinet as to whether the cabinet's records indicate\nthat a validated substantiated finding of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation has\nbeen entered against him or her. The cabinet shall reply only that it has or has not\nentered such a finding agai nst the named individual, although this limitation shall\nnot be construed to prevent the individual who is the subject of the investigation\nfrom obtaining cabinet records under other law, including the Kentucky Open\nRecords Act. An individual making a quer y under this subsection may direct that\nthe results of the query be provided to an alternative recipient seeking to utilize the\ncare or services of the querying individual.\n(4) Every cabinet investigation of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation committed by an\nemployee or a person otherwise acting with the expectation of compensation shall\nbe conducted in a manner affording the individual being investigated the level of\ndue process required to qualify any substantiated finding as a validated\nsubstantiated finding of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation.\n(5) The cabinet shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS\nChapter 13A to implement the provisions of this section. Included in these\nadministrative regulations shall be:\n(a) An error resolution process allowing an individual whose name is erroneously\nreported to have been the subject of a validated substantiated finding of adult\nabuse, neglect, or exploitation to request the correction of the cabinet's\nrecords;\n(b) A designation of t he process by which queries may be submitted in\naccordance with this section, which shall require that the queries be made\nusing a secure methodology and only by providers and persons authorized to\nsubmit a query under this section; and\n(c) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, including but not\nlimited to subsection (2) of this section, a process of notification by which the\ncabinet shall notify a vulnerable adult service provider who queries the\ncabinet pursuant to this section that the qu eried individual has appealed a\nsubstantiated finding of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation and that the\nappeal is pending.\n(6) If the cabinet does not respond to a query under subsection (2) of this section within\ntwenty-four (24) hours and a vulnerabl e adult services provider hires or utilizes an\nemployee provisionally, the provider shall not be subject to liability solely on the\nbasis of hiring or utilizing the employee before having received the cabinet's\nresponse.\n(7) Validated substantiated finding s of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation shall be\ncompiled into a central registry for the purpose of queries submitted under this\nsection.\n(8) A state licensing board may query the cabinet for any validated substantiated\nfinding of adult abuse, neglect,  or exploitation existing for an individual who is\nunder the state licensing board's jurisdiction. The cabinet shall provide information\nto the licensing board in accordance with KRS 61.878(5).","path":["KRS Chapter 209"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56826","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:52:09Z","sha256":"39c5ca3f4278811c47bec32154a4a3f4345d3a205105ef3d09bdc86e4199e038","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-209.030","next":"us-ky/krs-209.035"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}