Sec. 13.044.  PRIVATE ACCOMMODATIONS.  (a)  On the request of any charitable organization in this state, the department may permit the erection, furnishing, and maintenance by the charitable organization of accommodations on the grounds of a public health hospital for persons who have tuberculosis and who are:
(1)  members of the charitable organization;
(2)  members of the families of persons who are members of the charitable organization; or
(3)  surviving spouses or minor children of deceased persons who are members of the charitable organization.
(b)  The accommodations shall be reserved for the preferential use of persons described by Subsection (a).
(c)  The state may not incur any expense in the erection, furnishing, and maintenance of the accommodations.  The charitable organization that enters a patient under this section may be required to pay the pro rata part of the maintenance costs of that patient that is found to be just and equitable, pending the next legislative appropriation for the maintenance of state chest hospitals.  Any part of the accommodations not used by persons described by Subsection (a) may be used, at the discretion of the hospital administrator, by other patients in the hospital without charge to the state.
(d)  The officers or a board or committee of the charitable organization and the department must enter into a written agreement relating to the location, construction, style, and character, and terms of existence of buildings, and other questions arising in connection with the grant of permission to erect and maintain private accommodations.  The department must maintain as a record a copy of the written agreement.
(e)  Except for the preferential right to occupy vacant accommodations erected by the person's charitable organization, a person described by Subsection (a) shall be classified in the same manner as other public health hospital patients and shall be admitted, maintained, cared for, and treated in those hospitals in the same manner and under the same conditions and rules that apply to other patients.
Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.
Amended by: 
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 3.0063, eff. April 2, 2015.