AI-assisted research summary: The department and its agents may investigate licensed mental hospitals, and the commission must post certain violation information online and keep it posted for at least two years.
Sec. 577.013. INVESTIGATIONS. (a) The department may make investigations it considers necessary and proper to obtain compliance with this subtitle and the department's rules and standards. (b) An agent of the department may at any reasonable time enter the premises of a private mental hospital or mental health facility licensed under this chapter to: (1) inspect the facilities and conditions; (2) observe the hospital's or facility's care and treatment program; and (3) question the employees of the hospital or facility. (c) An agent of the department may examine or transcribe any records or documents relevant to the investigation. (d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), all information and materials in the possession of or obtained or compiled by the commission in connection with a complaint and investigation concerning a mental hospital licensed under this chapter are confidential and not subject to disclosure, discovery, subpoena, or other means of legal compulsion for their release to anyone other than the commission or its employees or agents involved in the enforcement action except that this information may be disclosed to: (1) persons involved with the commission in the enforcement action against the licensed mental hospital; (2) the licensed mental hospital that is the subject of the enforcement action, or the licensed mental hospital's authorized representative; (3) appropriate state or federal agencies that are authorized to inspect, survey, or investigate licensed mental hospital services; (4) law enforcement agencies; and (5) persons engaged in bona fide research, if all individual-identifying information and information identifying the licensed mental hospital has been deleted. (e) The following information is subject to disclosure in accordance with Chapter 552, Government Code, only to the extent that all personally identifiable information of a patient or health care provider is omitted from the information: (1) a notice of the licensed mental hospital's alleged violation, which must include the provisions of law the licensed mental hospital is alleged to have violated, and the nature of the alleged violation; (2) the number of investigations the commission has conducted of the licensed mental hospital; (3) the pleadings in any administrative proceeding to impose a penalty against the licensed mental hospital for the alleged violation; (4) the outcome of each investigation the commission conducted of the licensed mental hospital, including: (A) the issuance of a reprimand; (B) the denial or revocation of a license; (C) the adoption of a corrective action plan; or (D) the imposition of an administrative penalty and the penalty amount; and (5) a final decision, investigative report, or order issued by the commission to address the alleged violation. (f) Not later than the 90th day after the date the commission issues a final decision, investigative report, or order to address a licensed mental hospital's alleged violation, the commission shall post on the commission's Internet website: (1) the notice of alleged violation described by Subsection (e)(1); (2) the name of the licensed mental hospital; (3) the geographic location of the licensed mental hospital; (4) the date the commission issued the final decision, investigative report, or order; and (5) the outcome of the commission's investigation of the licensed mental hospital that includes the information described by Subsection (e)(4). (g) The commission may not remove information posted on the commission's Internet website under Subsection (f) before the second anniversary of the date the information is posted on the Internet website. (h) Nothing in this section precludes a licensed mental hospital from releasing medical records in the licensed mental hospital's possession: (1) on request of the patient who is the subject of the record; or (2) to the patient, the parent or guardian of a patient who is a minor or incapacitated, or the personal representative of a patient who is deceased. (i) In this section, "commission" means the Health and Human Services Commission. Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991. Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1444, Sec. 16, eff. Aug. 30, 1999. Amended by: Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 42 (H.B. 49), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2023.