Case Study: Samuel Merritt College achieves JCAHO compliance and streamlined student background checks with Corporate Screening Services

Thorough Student Background Checks Help Samuel Merritt College Comply with JCAHO Standards

Samuel Merritt College, a fully accredited health sciences institution in Oakland, CA, faced a major compliance and logistics challenge when a 2004 JCAHO standard required background checks for all students, employees and volunteers involved in clinical care. With more than 700 clinical affiliations and roughly 1,100 students participating in off‑campus rotations, Samuel Merritt turned to Corporate Screening Services to provide multi‑state background screening and coordinate the complex consent, reporting and clearance process.

Corporate Screening Services implemented a comprehensive student screening program—managing consent, multi‑state record searches, review, distribution of results to clinical sites and archiving—so Samuel Merritt now meets JCAHO standards and its contractual obligations to clinical partners. The service improved due diligence and helped identify potential issues before placements, reduced liability on the clinical side, and reliably supports the college’s large scale of ~1,100 student rotations across 700+ affiliations.

Samuel Merritt College

John Garten-Shuman

Vice President