Section 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.Tex. Health and Safety Code § 164.006
Amended by Acts 2015, Texas Acts of the 84th Leg. - Regular Session, ch. 1,Sec. 3.0495, eff. 4/2/2015.Amended By Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1055, Sec. 28, eff. 6/20/2003.Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1112, Sec. 3, eff. 6/18/1999Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 705, Sec. 2.01, eff. 9/1/1993.