Ask Mary | January 2025

Can you provide the requirements for TB testing for a home care aide organization? 

A TB test is required within 90 days before being hired by a home care aide organization (or seven (7) days after. An affiliated Home Care Aide who transfers employment from one Home Care Organization (HCO) to another shall be deemed to meet the TB examination requirements if 1) the affiliated Home Care Aide can produce a certificate showing that he/she submitted to the examination within the past two years and was found to be free of active tuberculosis disease, or 2) if it is verified by the previous Home Care Organization that there is a certificate on file for that Home Care Aide and the previous Home Care Organization provides a copy to the new Home Care Organization prior to the affiliated Home Care Aide having contact with clients. 

Health and Safety Code, Section 1796.45 codifies the HCO’s requirements with regard to TB testing and further states that “After submitting to an examination, an affiliated home care aide whose test for tuberculosis infection is negative shall be required to undergo an examination at least once every two years. Once an affiliated home care aide has a documented positive test for tuberculosis infection that has been followed by an X-ray, the examination is no longer required.”