(a) Affiliated home care aides hired on or after January 1, 2016, shall submit to an examination 90 days prior to employment, or within seven days after employment, to determine that the individual is free of active tuberculosis disease.
(b) For purposes of this section, “examination” means a test for tuberculosis infection that is recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and licensed by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, if that test is positive, an X-ray of the lungs. The aide shall not work as an affiliated home care aide unless the licensee obtains documentation from a licensed medical professional that there is no risk of spreading the disease.
(c) 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.
(d) After each examination, an affiliated home care aide shall submit, and the home care organization shall keep on file, a certificate from the examining practitioner showing that the affiliated home care aide was examined and found free from active tuberculosis disease.
(e) The examination is a condition of initial and continuing employment with the home care organization.
(f) An affiliated home care aide who transfers employment from one home care organization to another shall be deemed to meet the requirements of subdivision (a) or (c) if the affiliated home care aide can produce a certificate showing that he or she submitted to the examination within the past two years and was found to be free of active tuberculosis disease, or if it is verified by the home care organization previously employing him or her that it has a certificate on file that contains that showing and a copy of the certificate is provided to the new home care organization prior to the affiliated home care aide beginning employment.
(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 303, Sec. 297. (AB 731) Effective January 1, 2016.)