California Home Care Aide registry: what the agency must keep on file

Since 2016, the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act requires non-medical home care organizations in California to be licensed by the Department of Social Services and to employ only registered home care aides. The registry is public; a client or a surveyor can look up any aide by name. These are the pieces the agency has to keep current.

Registration

An aide applies to the Home Care Services Bureau with form HCS 100, a Criminal Record Statement (LIC 508) and a Live Scan request (HCS 9163). Registration follows DOJ and FBI fingerprint clearance. It is renewed every two years, and the aide forfeits it by failing to report a change of mailing address within ten days. An aide whose registration lapses cannot be assigned.

Background clearance

The Live Scan clearance is a condition of registration, so the agency's file needs the registration status and date rather than the clearance itself. Check the public registry at hire and again at each renewal, and keep the dated lookup.

TB screening

Health and Safety Code section 1796.45 makes a tuberculosis examination a condition of initial and continuing employment with a home care organization. Keep each result with its date and the next due date.

Training

Registered aides complete entry-level training before working independently with clients, and annual training each year after. Document each session with the date, the topic, the hours and who delivered it; the Bureau can ask for it at inspection.

What the file looks like when it's right

• Registry lookup, dated, with the registration expiration.
• TB screening result and next due date.
• Entry-level training record.
• Annual training log for the current year.
• Anything your own policy adds: driver's license and auto insurance for aides who drive clients, CPR, a signed client-rights acknowledgment.

Tracking it

Each of these has a renewal period, which makes them compliance items in Benson HR: registration every two years, TB annually, training annually, per job title. The aide gets reminded before each one lapses, with a link to send the document, and the grid shows the office who is current. The compliance tracking page shows how items are defined.