To be eligible for emergency response services, a client must:
  (1) meet the functional need criteria as set by the department. The department uses a standardized assessment instrument to measure the client's ability to perform activities of daily living. This yields a score, which is a measure of the client's level of functional need. The department sets the minimum required score for a client to be eligible, which the department may periodically adjust commensurate with available funding. The department will seek stakeholder input before making any change in the minimum required score for functional eligibility; and
  (2) meet the following requirements:
    (A) live alone, be alone routinely for eight or more hours each day, or live with an incapacitated individual who could not call for help or otherwise assist the client in an emergency;
    (B) be mentally alert enough to operate the equipment properly, in the judgment of the DHS caseworker;
    (C) have a telephone with a private line, if the system requires a private line to function properly;
    (D) be willing to sign a release statement that allows the responder to make a forced entry into the client's home if he is asked to respond to an activated alarm call and has no other means of entering the home to respond; and
    (E) live in a place other than a skilled institution, assisted living facility, foster care setting, or any other setting where 24-hour supervision is available.

Source Note: The provisions of this §271.95 adopted to be effective May 1, 1984, 9 TexReg 2166; amended to be effective August 1, 1984, 9 TexReg 3876; amended to be effective July 1, 1986, 11 TexReg 2827; amended to be effective April 29, 1988, 13 TexReg 1547; amended to be effective April 15, 1996, 21 TexReg 2404; amended to be effective August 31, 2004, 29 TexReg 8376; transferred effective September 15, 2023, as published in the August 18, 2023, issue of the Texas Register, 48 TexReg 4523