Care in the home, covered.

Aides: registry clearance, training and TB

Under section 1796.43, every affiliated home care aide must be cleared on the CDSS Home Care Aide Registry before you place them in direct contact with clients. Any staff person, volunteer or employee who has contact with clients or prospective clients, or access to confidential client information, must meet the chapter's background requirements before that contact or access begins. When an aide stops working for you, you must notify CDSS immediately.

• Entry-level training (1796.44): at least five hours before the aide is with a client. Two hours are orientation on the role and the terms of employment. Three hours are safety training: basic safety precautions, emergency procedures and infection control.
• Annual training: at least five more hours every year on core competencies, including how to report, prevent and detect abuse and neglect and, if you provide transportation, how to safely transport a client. Both blocks may be completed online. Starting January 1, 2027, under SB 412 (Chapter 414, Statutes of 2025), the annual topics also include the special care needs of clients with dementia.
• Tuberculosis (1796.45): aides hired on or after January 1, 2016 are examined in the 90 days before employment or within seven days after it. After a negative test, the exam repeats at least once every two years, and you keep the examining practitioner's certificate on file.

Under section 1796.37, CDSS can ask for a list of your aides and proof that each one meets these three sections. Keep the registry clearance, a dated training log and the TB certificate in each aide's file. You'll want the same records ready if a claim alleges negligent hiring or supervision.

Abuse reporting and what to read for in the policy

Section 1796.42 requires a licensed agency to report suspected or known elder or dependent adult abuse as Welfare and Institutions Code 15630 requires, and suspected or known child abuse under Penal Code 11164 to 11174.3. It must keep a copy of each report available for CDSS review. Under 15630, anyone who has assumed full or intermittent responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult, paid or not, is a mandated reporter. When the abuse happened somewhere other than a long-term care facility, state mental hospital or state developmental center, the report goes to adult protective services or local law enforcement:

• By phone or the confidential internet reporting tool, immediately or as soon as practicably possible.
• If you report by phone, a written or internet report follows within two working days.
• Failing to report is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine, or both.

Put those steps in your training plan, then read your policies for three things:

• Abuse wording: IRMI describes the sexual abuse exclusion as precluding coverage for sexual abuse claims, with favorable versions still providing a defense. Check whether your general and professional liability forms carry it, which version, and whether abuse and molestation coverage was added back.
• Trigger and retro date: IRMI notes that most professional liability policies are written claims-made and cover only financial losses, with bodily injury usually handled under general liability. Read your professional liability form's insuring agreement for injury arising from care, and note its retroactive date.
• Caregivers' own cars: IRMI says that without the Employees as Insureds endorsement (CA 99 33), the auto coverage forms exclude an employee's liability for an auto the employee or a household member owns. Check whether your hired and non-owned auto coverage includes it.