HEALTH & SAFETY CODE
CHAPTER 552. STATE HOSPITALS
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 552.001. HOSPITAL DISTRICTS. (a) The department
shall divide the state into hospital districts.
(b) The department may change the districts.
(c) The department shall designate the state hospitals to
which persons with mental illness from each district shall be
admitted.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
SUBCHAPTER B. INDIGENT AND NONINDIGENT PATIENTS
§ 552.011. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "patient"
means a person admitted to a state hospital under the management and
control of the department.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.012. CLASSIFICATION AND DEFINITION OF
PATIENTS. (a) A patient is classified as either indigent or
nonindigent.
(b) An indigent patient is a patient who:
(1) possesses no property;
(2) has no person legally responsible for the
patient's support; and
(3) is unable to reimburse the state for the costs of
the patient's support, maintenance, and treatment.
(c) A nonindigent patient is a patient who:
(1) possesses property from which the state may be
reimbursed for the costs of the patient's support, maintenance, and
treatment; or
(2) has a person legally responsible for the patient's
support.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.013. SUPPORT OF INDIGENT AND NONINDIGENT
PATIENTS. (a) A person may not be denied services under this
subtitle because of an inability to pay for the services.
(b) The state shall support, maintain, and treat indigent
and nonindigent patients at the expense of the state.
(c) The state is entitled to reimbursement for the support,
maintenance, and treatment of a nonindigent patient.
(d) A patient who does not own a sufficient estate shall be
maintained at the expense:
(1) of the patient's spouse, if able to do so; or
(2) if the patient is younger than 18 years of age, of
the patient's father or mother, if able to do so.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.014. CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS FOR BENEFIT OF
PATIENT. (a) Child support payments for the benefit of a patient
paid or owed by a parent under court order are considered the
property and estate of the patient, and the state may be reimbursed
for the costs of a patient's support, maintenance, and treatment
from those amounts.
(b) The state shall credit the amount of child support a
parent actually pays for a patient against charges for which the
parent is liable, based on ability to pay.
(c) A parent who receives child support payments for a
patient is liable for the charges based on the amount of child
support payments actually received in addition to the liability of
that parent based on ability to pay.
(d) The department may file a motion to modify a court order
that establishes a child support obligation for a patient to
require payment of the child support directly to the state hospital
or facility in which the patient resides for the patient's support,
maintenance, and treatment if:
(1) the patient's parent fails to pay child support as
required by the order; or
(2) the patient's parent who receives child support
fails to pay charges based on the amount of child support payments
received.
(e) In addition to modification of an order under Subsection
(d), the court may order all past due child support for the benefit
of a patient paid directly to the patient's state hospital or
facility to the extent that the state is entitled to reimbursement
of the patient's charges from the child support obligation.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.015. INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE MEANS OF
SUPPORT. (a) The department may demand and conduct an
investigation in a county court to determine whether a patient
possesses or is entitled to property or whether a person other than
the patient is liable for the payment of the costs of the patient's
support, maintenance, and treatment.
(b) The department may have citation issued and witnesses
summoned to be heard on the investigation.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.016. FEES. (a) Except as provided by this
section, the department may not charge a fee that exceeds the cost
to the state to support, maintain, and treat a patient.
(b) The department may use the projected cost of providing
inpatient services to establish the maximum fee that may be charged
to a payer.
(c) The department may establish the maximum fee according
to one or a combination of the following:
(1) a statewide per capita;
(2) an individual facility per capita; or
(3) the type of service provided.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), the department may
establish a fee in excess of the department's projected cost of
providing inpatient services that may be charged to a payer:
(1) who is not an individual; and
(2) whose method of determining the rate of
reimbursement to a provider results in the excess.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.017. SLIDING FEE SCHEDULE. (a) The department
by rule shall establish a sliding fee schedule for the payment by
the patient's parents of the state's total costs for the support,
maintenance, and treatment of a patient younger than 18 years of
age.
(b) The department shall set the fee according to the
parents' net taxable income and ability to pay.
(c) The parents may elect to have their net taxable income
determined by their current financial statement or most recent
federal income tax return.
(d) In determining the portion of the costs of the patient's
support, maintenance, and treatment that the parents are required
to pay, the department shall adjust, when appropriate, the payment
required under the fee schedule to allow for consideration of other
factors affecting the ability of the parents to pay.
(e) The department shall evaluate and, if necessary, revise
the fee schedule at least once every five years.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 278, § 1, eff. June 5, 1995.
§ 552.018. TRUST PRINCIPALS. (a) If a patient is the
beneficiary of a trust that has an aggregate principal of $250,000
or less, the corpus or income of the trust is not considered to be
the property of the patient or the patient's estate and is not
liable for the patient's support. If the aggregate principal of the
trust exceeds $250,000, only the portion of the corpus of the trust
that exceeds that amount and the income attributable to that
portion are considered to be the property of the patient or the
patient's estate and are liable for the patient's support.
(b) To qualify for the exemption provided by Subsection (a),
the trust must be created by a written instrument, and a copy of the
trust instrument must be provided to the department.
(c) A trustee of the trust shall, on the department's
request, provide to the department a financial statement that shows
the value of the trust estate.
(d) The department may petition a district court to order
the trustee to provide a financial statement if the trustee does not
provide the statement before the 31st day after the date on which
the department makes the request. The court shall hold a hearing on
the department's petition not later than the 45th day after the date
on which the petition is filed. The court shall order the trustee
to provide to the department a financial statement if the court
finds that the trustee has failed to provide the statement.
(e) For the purposes of this section, the following are not
considered to be trusts and are not entitled to the exemption
provided by this section:
(1) a guardianship established under the Texas Probate
Code;
(2) a trust established under Chapter 142, Property
Code;
(3) a facility custodial account established under
Section 551.003;
(4) the provisions of a divorce decree or other court
order relating to child support obligations;
(5) an administration of a decedent's estate; or
(6) an arrangement in which funds are held in the
registry or by the clerk of a court.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1020, § 2, eff. June 15,
2001.
§ 552.019. FILING OF CLAIMS. (a) A county or district
attorney shall, on the written request of the department, represent
the state in filing a claim in probate court or a petition in a court
of competent jurisdiction:
(1) to require the person responsible for a patient to
appear in court and show cause why the state should not have
judgment against the person for the costs of the patient's support,
maintenance, and treatment; or
(2) if the liability arises under Subchapter D,
Chapter 593, to require a person responsible for a resident to
appear in court and show cause why the state should not have
judgment against the person for the resident's support and
maintenance in a residential care facility operated by the
department.
(b) On a sufficient showing, the court may enter judgment
against:
(1) the person responsible for the patient for the
costs of the patient's support, maintenance, and treatment; or
(2) the person responsible for the resident for the
costs of the resident's support and maintenance.
(c) Sufficient evidence to authorize the court to enter
judgment is:
(1) a verified account, sworn to by the superintendent
or director of the hospital in which the patient is being treated,
or has been treated, as to the amount due; or
(2) a verified account, sworn to by the superintendent
or director of the residential care facility in which the person
with mental retardation resided or has resided, as to the amount
due.
(d) The judgment may be enforced as in other cases.
(e) The county or district attorney representing the state
is entitled to a commission of 10 percent of the amount collected.
(f) The attorney general shall represent the state if the
county and district attorney refuse or are unable to act on the
department's request.
(g) In this section:
(1) "Person responsible for a patient" means the
guardian of a patient, a person liable for the support of the
patient, or both.
(2) "Person responsible for a resident" means the
resident, a person liable for the support of the resident, or both.
(3) "Resident" means a person admitted to a
residential care facility operated by the department for persons
with mental retardation.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
§ 552.020. APPLICATION. Except as provided by
Subchapter C, Chapter 73, Education Code, this subchapter does not
apply to The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 3, § 4, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
