Title HS, Health and Safety Code

Sec. 81.005. CONTRACTS. The department may enter into contracts or agreements with persons as necessary to implement this chapter. The contracts or agreements may provide for payment by the state for materials, equipment, and services. Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. …

Sec. 81.006. FUNDS. The department may seek, receive, and spend appropriations, grants, fees, or donations for the purpose of identifying, reporting, preventing, or controlling communicable diseases or conditions determined to be injurious or to be a threat to the public health s…

Sec. 81.007. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY. A private individual performing duties in compliance with orders or instructions of the department or a health authority issued under this chapter is not liable for the death of or injury to a person or for damage to property, except in a cas…

Sec. 81.008. COMMUNICABLE DISEASE IN ANIMALS; EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION. The Texas Animal Health Commission and the Texas A&M University Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory shall each adopt by rule a memorandum of understanding, adopted also by rule by the executive commission…

Sec. 81.009. EXEMPTION FROM MEDICAL TREATMENT. (a) This chapter does not authorize or require the medical treatment of an individual who chooses treatment by prayer or spiritual means as part of the tenets and practices of a recognized church of which the individual is an adheren…

Sec. 81.011. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. In times of emergency or epidemic declared by the commissioner, the department is authorized to request information pertaining to names, dates of birth, and most recent addresses of individuals from the driver's license records of the Departm…

Sec. 81.012. DESIGNATED INFECTION CONTROL OFFICER. (a) An entity that employs or uses the services of an emergency response employee or volunteer shall nominate a designated infection control officer and an alternate designated infection control officer to: (1) receive notificati…

Sec. 81.013. CONSIDERATION OF FEDERAL LAW AND REGULATIONS. The executive commissioner shall review the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (Pub. L. No. 111-87) or any successor law and any regulations adopted under the law and determine whether adopting by rule an…

Sec. 81.014. LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAM. Each long-term care facility's infection prevention and control program must include: (1) monitoring of key infectious agents, including multidrug-resistant organisms; and (2) procedures for making rap…

Sec. 81.015. ANTIMICROBIAL STEWARDSHIP REGIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES. (a) The department shall establish a regional advisory committee in each public health region designated under Section 121.007 to address antimicrobial stewardship in long-term care facilities and to improve ant…

Sec. 81.016. AVAILABILITY OF DATA REGARDING PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER. During a public health disaster, the department shall timely make available to the public on the department's Internet website, in an easy-to-read format, all available de-identified public health data regarding …

Sec. 81.021. PROTECTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH. The executive commissioner and department shall exercise their powers in matters relating to protecting the public health to prevent the introduction of disease into the state. Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Am…

Sec. 81.022. HEALTH EDUCATION. (a) The department may conduct a program of health education for the prevention and control of communicable disease. (b) The department may contract for presentations to increase the public awareness of individual actions needed to prevent and contr…

Sec. 81.023. IMMUNIZATION. (a) The department shall develop immunization requirements for children. (b) The department shall cooperate with the Department of Family and Protective Services in formulating and implementing the immunization requirements for children admitted to chil…

Sec. 81.024. REPORTS BY DEPARTMENT. The department shall provide regular reports of the incidence, prevalence, and medical and economic effects of each disease that the department determines is a threatening risk to the public health. A disease may be a risk because of its indire…

Sec. 81.027. TRAUMA SERVICE AREA REGIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING. (a) Each trauma service area regional advisory council shall collect from each hospital located in the regional advisory council's trauma service area the de-identified health care data, inc…

Sec. 81.041. REPORTABLE DISEASES. (a) The executive commissioner shall identify each communicable disease or health condition that shall be reported under this chapter. (b) The executive commissioner shall classify each reportable disease according to its nature and the severity …

Sec. 81.042. PERSONS REQUIRED TO REPORT. (a) A report under Subsection (b), (c), or (d) shall be made to the local health authority. (b) A dentist or veterinarian licensed to practice in this state or a physician shall report, after the first professional encounter, a patient or …

Sec. 81.043. RECORDS AND REPORTS OF HEALTH AUTHORITY. (a) Each health authority shall keep a record of each case of a reportable disease that is reported to the authority. (b) A health authority shall report reportable diseases to the department's central office at least as frequ…

Sec. 81.044. REPORTING PROCEDURES. (a) The executive commissioner shall prescribe the form and method of reporting under this chapter by electronic data transmission, through a health information exchange as defined by Section 182.151 if requested and authorized by the person req…

Sec. 81.0443. STANDARDIZED INFORMATION SHARING METHOD. The department shall collaborate with local health authorities, hospitals, laboratories, and other persons who submit information to the department during a public health disaster or in response to other outbreaks of communic…

Sec. 81.0444. HOSPITAL TO REPORT. A hospital shall report to the department and to the applicable trauma service area regional advisory council all information required by the department related to a reportable disease for which a public health disaster is declared. Added by Acts…

Sec. 81.0445. PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO PUBLIC DURING PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER. (a) This section applies only to information related to a reportable disease for which a public health disaster is declared. (b) The department and each trauma service area regional advisory council s…

Sec. 81.045. REPORTS OF DEATH. (a) A physician who attends a person during the person's last illness shall immediately notify the health authority of the jurisdiction in which the person's death is pronounced or the department if the physician knows or suspects that the person di…

Sec. 81.046. CONFIDENTIALITY. (a) Reports, records, and information received from any source, including from a federal agency or from another state, furnished to a public health district, a health authority, a local health department, or the department that relate to cases or sus…

Sec. 81.047. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL REPORTS. Subject to the confidentiality requirements of this chapter, the department shall require epidemiological reports of disease outbreaks and of individual cases of disease suspected or known to be of importance to the public health. The departm…

Sec. 81.048. NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE EMPLOYEE OR VOLUNTEER. (a) The executive commissioner shall: (1) designate certain reportable diseases for notification under this section; and (2) define the conditions that constitute possible exposure to those diseases. (b) Notic…

Sec. 81.049. FAILURE TO REPORT; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly fails to report a reportable disease or health condition under this subchapter. (b) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor. Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec…

Sec. 81.0495. FAILURE TO REPORT; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) The department may impose a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 on a health care facility for each failure to submit a report required under this subchapter. (b) The attorney general may bring an action to recover a civil pena…

Sec. 81.050. MANDATORY TESTING OF PERSONS SUSPECTED OF EXPOSING CERTAIN OTHER PERSONS TO REPORTABLE DISEASES, INCLUDING HIV INFECTION. (a) The executive commissioner by rule shall prescribe the criteria that constitute exposure to reportable diseases. The criteria must be based o…

Sec. 81.051. PARTNER NOTIFICATION PROGRAMS; HIV INFECTION. (a) The department shall establish programs for partner notification and referral services. (b) The partner notification services offered by health care providers participating in a program shall be made available and eas…

Sec. 81.052. REPORTS AND ANALYSES CONCERNING AIDS AND HIV INFECTION. (a) The department shall ensure timely and accurate reporting under this chapter of information relating to acquired immune deficiency syndrome and human immunodeficiency virus infection. (b) The department shal…

Sec. 81.053. DATA QUALITY ASSURANCE. The department shall implement quality assurance procedures to ensure that data collected and reported for a public health disaster is systematically reviewed for errors and completeness. The department shall implement procedures to timely res…

Sec. 81.061. INVESTIGATION. (a) The department shall investigate the causes and effects of communicable disease and methods of prevention. (b) The department may require special investigations of specified cases of disease to evaluate the status in this state of epidemic, endemic…

Sec. 81.062. WITNESSES; DOCUMENTS. (a) For the purpose of an investigation under Section 81.061(c), the department may administer oaths, summon witnesses, and compel the attendance of a witness or the production of a document. The department may request the assistance of a county…

Sec. 81.063. SAMPLES. (a) A person authorized to conduct an investigation under this subchapter may take samples of materials present on the premises, including soil, water, air, unprocessed or processed foodstuffs, manufactured clothing, pharmaceuticals, and household goods. (b)…

Sec. 81.064. INSPECTION. (a) The department or a health authority may enter at reasonable times and inspect within reasonable limits a public place in the performance of that person's duty to prevent or control the entry into or spread in this state of communicable disease by enf…

Sec. 81.065. RIGHT OF ENTRY. (a) For an investigation or inspection, the commissioner, an employee of the department, or a health authority has the right of entry on land or in a building, vehicle, watercraft, or aircraft and the right of access to an individual, animal, or objec…

Sec. 81.066. CONCEALING COMMUNICABLE DISEASE OR EXPOSURE TO COMMUNICABLE DISEASE; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly conceals or attempts to conceal from the department, a health authority, or a peace officer, during the course of an investi…

Sec. 81.067. CONCEALING, REMOVING, OR DISPOSING OF AN INFECTED OR CONTAMINATED ANIMAL, OBJECT, VEHICLE, WATERCRAFT, OR AIRCRAFT; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly conceals, removes, or disposes of an infected or contaminated animal, object,…

Sec. 81.068. REFUSING ENTRY OR INSPECTION; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly refuses or attempts to refuse entry to the department, a health authority, or a peace officer on presentation of a valid search warrant to investigate, inspect, or…

Sec. 81.081. DEPARTMENT'S DUTY. The department is the preemptive authority for purposes of this chapter and shall coordinate statewide or regional efforts to protect public health. The department shall collaborate with local elected officials, including county and municipal offic…

Sec. 81.0813. AUTHORITY TO DECLARE PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER OR ORDER PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY. (a) The commissioner may declare a statewide or regional public health disaster or order a statewide or regional public health emergency if the commissioner determines an occurrence or thr…

Sec. 81.0814. CONSULTATION WITH TASK FORCE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASE PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE. After declaring a public health disaster or ordering a public health emergency, the commissioner shall consult with the Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response, includin…

Sec. 81.0815. FAILURE TO REPORT; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A health care facility that fails to submit a report required by the department under a public health disaster is liable to this state for a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each failure. (b) The attorney general at the…

Sec. 81.082. ADMINISTRATION OF CONTROL MEASURES. (a) A health authority has supervisory authority and control over the administration of communicable disease control measures in the health authority's jurisdiction unless specifically preempted by the department. Control measures …