Title HS, Health and Safety Code

Sec. 142.002. LICENSE REQUIRED. (a) Except as provided by Section 142.003, a person, including a health care facility licensed under this code, may not engage in the business of providing home health, hospice, habilitation, or personal assistance services, or represent to the pub…

Sec. 142.0025. TEMPORARY LICENSE. If a person is in the process of becoming certified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to qualify as a certified agency, the department may issue a temporary home and community support services agency license to the pers…

Sec. 142.003. EXEMPTIONS FROM LICENSING REQUIREMENT. (a) The following persons need not be licensed under this chapter: (1) a physician, dentist, registered nurse, occupational therapist, or physical therapist licensed under the laws of this state who provides home health service…

Sec. 142.004. LICENSE APPLICATION. (a) An applicant for a license to provide home health, hospice, habilitation, or personal assistance services must: (1) file a written application on a form prescribed by the department indicating the type of service the applicant wishes to prov…

Sec. 142.005. COMPLIANCE RECORD IN OTHER STATES. The department may require an applicant or license holder to provide the department with information relating to compliance by the applicant, the license holder, or a controlling person with respect to the applicant or license hold…

Sec. 142.006. LICENSE ISSUANCE; TERM. (a) The department shall issue a home and community support services agency license to provide home health, hospice, habilitation, or personal assistance services for each place of business to an applicant if: (1) the applicant: (A) qualifies…

Sec. 142.00605. PERSONAL ASSISTANCE SERVICES PROVIDED WITHOUT LICENSE TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS; CRIMINAL OFFENSE. (a) A person commits an offense if the person: (1) is required to hold a license under this chapter; and (2) provides without holding the required license personal assi…

Sec. 142.0061. POSSESSION OF STERILE WATER OR SALINE. A home and community support services agency or its employees who are registered nurses or licensed vocational nurses may purchase, store, or transport for the purpose of administering to their home health or hospice patients …

Sec. 142.0062. POSSESSION OF CERTAIN VACCINES OR TUBERCULIN. (a) A home and community support services agency or its employees who are registered nurses or licensed vocational nurses may purchase, store, or transport for the purpose of administering to the agency's employees, hom…

Sec. 142.0063. POSSESSION OF CERTAIN DANGEROUS DRUGS. (a) A home and community support services agency in compliance with this section or its employees who are registered nurses or licensed vocational nurses may purchase, store, or transport for the purpose of administering to th…

Sec. 142.0065. DISPLAY OF LICENSE. A license issued under this chapter shall be displayed in a conspicuous place in the designated place of business and must show: (1) the name and address of the licensee; (2) the name of the owner or owners, if different from the information pro…

Sec. 142.007. NOTICE OF DRUG TESTING POLICY. An agency licensed under this chapter shall provide to the following persons a written statement describing the agency's policy for the drug testing of employees who have direct contact with clients: (1) each person applying for servic…

Sec. 142.008. BRANCH OFFICE. (a) The department may issue a branch office license to a person who holds a license to provide home health or personal assistance services. (b) The executive commissioner by rule shall establish eligibility requirements for a branch office license. (…

Sec. 142.0085. ALTERNATE DELIVERY SITE LICENSE. (a) The department shall issue an alternate delivery site license to a qualified hospice. (b) The executive commissioner by rule shall establish standards required for the issuance of an alternate delivery site license. (c) An alter…

Sec. 142.009. SURVEYS; CONSUMER COMPLAINTS. (a) The department or its representative may enter the premises of a license applicant or license holder at reasonable times to conduct a survey incidental to the issuance of a license and at other times as the department considers nece…

Sec. 142.0091. TRAINING. (a) The department shall provide specialized training to representatives of the department who survey home and community support services agencies. The training must include information relating to: (1) the conduct of appropriate surveys that do not focus…

Sec. 142.0092. CONSUMER COMPLAINT DATA. (a) The department shall maintain records or documents relating to complaints directed to the department by consumers of home health, hospice, habilitation, or personal assistance services. The department shall organize the records or docum…

Sec. 142.0093. RETALIATION PROHIBITED. (a) A person licensed under this chapter may not retaliate against another person for filing a complaint, presenting a grievance, or providing in good faith information relating to home health, hospice, habilitation, or personal assistance s…

Sec. 142.0094. USE OF REGULATORY SURVEY REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a survey report or other document prepared by the department that relates to regulation of a home and community support services agency is not admissible as evid…

Sec. 142.0095. INVESTIGATIONS OF HOME AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES AGENCIES PROVIDING HOSPICE SERVICES. The commission or its authorized representative shall investigate an allegation of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a client of any age of a home and community support serv…

Sec. 142.010. FEES. (a) The executive commissioner by rule shall set license fees for home and community support services agencies in amounts that are reasonable to meet the costs of administering this chapter, except that the fees may not be less than $600 or more than $2,625 fo…

Sec. 142.0104. CHANGE IN APPLICATION INFORMATION. (a) If certain application information as specified by department rule changes after the applicant submits an application to the department for a license under this chapter or after the department issues the license, the license h…

Sec. 142.0105. LICENSE RENEWAL. (a) A person who is otherwise eligible to renew a license may renew an unexpired license by submitting a completed application for renewal and paying the required renewal fee to the department not later than the 45th day before the expiration date …

Sec. 142.011. DENIAL, SUSPENSION, OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE. (a) The department may deny a license application or suspend or revoke the license of a person who: (1) fails to comply with the rules or standards for licensing required by this chapter; or (2) engages in conduct that v…

Sec. 142.012. POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to implement this chapter. The executive commissioner may adopt rules governing the duties and responsibilities of home and community support services agency administrators, including rule…

Sec. 142.013. INJUNCTION. (a) A district court, on petition of the department and on a finding by the court that a person is violating this chapter, may by injunction: (1) prohibit the person from continuing the violation; or (2) grant any other injunctive relief warranted by the…

Sec. 142.014. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who engages in the business of providing home health, hospice, habilitation, or personal assistance service, or represents to the public that the person is a provider of home health, hospice, habilitation, and personal assistance services…

Sec. 142.0145. VIOLATION OF LAW RELATING TO ADVANCE DIRECTIVES. (a) The department shall assess an administrative penalty against a home and community support services agency that violates Section 166.004. (b) A penalty assessed under this section shall be $500. (c) The penalty s…

Sec. 142.017. ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. (a) The department may assess an administrative penalty against a person who violates: (1) this chapter or a rule adopted under this chapter; or (2) Section 102.001, Occupations Code, if the violation relates to the provision of home health, …

Sec. 142.0171. NOTICE; REQUEST FOR HEARING. (a) If, after investigation of a possible violation and the facts surrounding that possible violation, the department determines that a violation has occurred, the department shall give written notice of the violation to the person alle…

Sec. 142.0172. HEARING; ORDER. (a) If the person notified requests a hearing, the department shall refer the case to the State Office of Administrative Hearings and an administrative law judge of that office shall conduct the hearing. (a-1) The department shall give written notic…

Sec. 142.0173. NOTICE AND PAYMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY; JUDICIAL REVIEW; REFUND. (a) The department shall give notice of the order under Section 142.0172(c) to the person alleged to have committed the violation. The notice must include: (1) separate statements of the finding…

Sec. 142.0174. USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. An administrative penalty collected under this subchapter may be appropriated for the purpose of funding the grant program established under Section 161.074, Human Resources Code. Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1191, Sec. 7, eff. …

Sec. 142.0175. EXPENSES AND COSTS FOR COLLECTION OF CIVIL OR ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. (a) If the attorney general brings an action against a person under Section 142.013 or 142.014 or to enforce an administrative penalty assessed under Section 142.0173 and an injunction is granted…

Sec. 142.018. REPORTS OF ABUSE, EXPLOITATION, OR NEGLECT. (a) In this section, "abuse," "exploitation," and "neglect" have the meanings applicable through a rule adopted by the executive commissioner under Section 48.002(c), Human Resources Code, except that if the executive comm…

Sec. 142.019. CERTAIN PHYSICIAN REFERRALS PROHIBITED. A physician may not refer a patient to a home and community support services agency if the referral violates 42 U.S.C. Section 1395nn and its subsequent amendments. Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 276, Sec. 11, eff. Sept. 1…

Sec. 142.020. DISPOSAL OF SPECIAL OR MEDICAL WASTE. (a) A home and community support services agency that generates special or medical waste while providing home health services must dispose of the waste in the same manner that the home and community support services agency dispo…

Sec. 142.0201. REGISTRATION FOR EVACUATION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS. A home and community support services agency shall: (1) assist clients as necessary with registering for disaster evacuation assistance through 2-1-1 services provided by the Texas Information and Referral Network…

Sec. 142.021. ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION. A person may not administer medication to a client of a home and community support services agency unless the person: (1) holds a license under state law that authorizes the person to administer medication; (2) holds a permit issued und…

Sec. 142.022. EXEMPTIONS FOR NURSING STUDENTS AND MEDICATION AIDE TRAINEES. (a) Sections 142.021 and 142.029 do not apply to: (1) a graduate nurse holding a temporary permit issued by the Texas Board of Nursing; (2) a student enrolled in an accredited school of nursing or program…

Sec. 142.023. RULES FOR ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION. The executive commissioner by rule shall establish: (1) minimum requirements for the issuance, denial, renewal, suspension, emergency suspension, and revocation of a permit to a home health medication aide; (2) curricula to tr…

Sec. 142.024. HOME HEALTH MEDICATION AIDE TRAINING PROGRAMS. (a) An application for the approval of a home health medication aide training program must be made to the department on a form prescribed by the department and under department rules. (b) The department shall approve a …

Sec. 142.025. ISSUANCE AND RENEWAL OF HOME HEALTH MEDICATION AIDE PERMIT. (a) To be issued or to have renewed a home health medication aide permit, a person shall apply to the department on a form prescribed by the department and under department rules. (b) The department shall p…

Sec. 142.026. FEES FOR ISSUANCE AND RENEWAL OF HOME HEALTH MEDICATION AIDE PERMIT. (a) The executive commissioner by rule shall set the fees in amounts reasonable and necessary to recover the amount projected by the department as required to administer its functions under this su…

Sec. 142.027. VIOLATION OF HOME HEALTH MEDICATION AIDE PERMITS. (a) For the violation of this subchapter or a rule adopted under this subchapter, the department may: (1) deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a permit; (2) suspend a permit in an emergency; or (3) rescind train…

Sec. 142.028. EMERGENCY SUSPENSION OF HOME HEALTH MEDICATION AIDE PERMITS. (a) The department shall issue an order to suspend a permit issued under Section 142.025 if the department has reasonable cause to believe that the conduct of the permit holder creates an imminent danger t…