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 mental retardation center funded by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation;

(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.