TX Health & Safety Code § 164.006 (2021)
2021 Texas Statutes|Health and Safety Code|Title 2 - Health|Subtitle H - Public Health Provisions|Chapter 164 - Treatment Facilities Marketing and Admission Practices|Section 164.006. Soliciting and Contracting With Certain Referral Sources

Sec. 164.006.  SOLICITING AND CONTRACTING WITH CERTAIN REFERRAL SOURCES.  A treatment facility or a person employed or under contract with a treatment facility, if acting on behalf of the treatment facility, may not:(1)  contact a referral source or potential client for the purpose of soliciting, directly or indirectly, a referral of a patient to the treatment facility without disclosing its soliciting agent's, employee's, or contractor's affiliation with the treatment facility;(2)  offer to provide or provide mental health or chemical dependency services to a public or private school in this state, on a part-time or full-time basis, the services of any of its employees or agents who make, or are in a position to make, a referral, if the services are provided on an individual basis to individual students or their families.  Nothing herein prohibits a treatment facility from:(A)  offering or providing educational programs in group settings to public schools in this state if the affiliation between the educational program and the treatment facility is disclosed;(B)  providing counseling services to a public school in this state in an emergency or crisis situation if the services are provided in response to a specific request by a school; provided that, under no circumstances may a student be referred to the treatment facility offering the services; or(C)  entering into a contract under Section 464.020 with the board of trustees of a school district with a disciplinary alternative education program, or with the board's designee, for the provision of chemical dependency treatment services;(3)  provide to an entity of state or local government, on a part-time or full-time basis, the mental health or chemical dependency services of any of its employees, agents, or contractors who make or are in a position to make referrals unless:(A)  the treatment facility discloses to the governing authority of the entity:(i)  the employee's, agent's, or contractor's relationship to the facility; and(ii)  the fact that the employee, agent, or contractor might make a referral, if permitted, to the facility; and(B)  the employee, agent, or contractor makes a referral only if:(i)  the treatment facility obtains the governing authority's authorization in writing for the employee, agent, or contractor to make the referrals; and(ii)  the employee, agent, or contractor discloses to the prospective patient the employee's, agent's, or contractor's relationship to the facility at initial contact; or(4)  in relation to intervention and assessment services, contract with, offer to remunerate, or remunerate a person who operates an intervention and assessment service that makes referrals to a treatment facility for inpatient treatment of mental illness or chemical dependency unless the intervention and assessment service is:(A)  operated by a community mental health and intellectual disability center funded by the department and the Department of Aging and Disability Services;(B)  operated by a county or regional medical society;(C)  a qualified mental health referral service as defined by Section 164.007; or(D)  owned and operated by a nonprofit or not-for-profit organization offering counseling concerning family violence, help for runaway children, or rape.|Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 705, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1112, Sec. 3, eff. June 18, 1999;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1055, Sec. 28, eff. June 20, 2003.Amended by: Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 3.0495, eff. April 2, 2015.|