(a) Scope and Purpose.
  (1) Licensees clearly describe the scope and purpose of evaluation, assessment, and testing to patients before they provide these psychological services.
  (2) Licensees produce reports that clearly state and accurately reflect the scope and purpose of evaluation, assessment, and testing.
(b) Reliability and Validity.
  (1) Licensees verify, by signature and date, that every evaluation, assessment, test result, report, recommendation, or psychological diagnostic or evaluative statement produced is based on information and techniques sufficient to provide appropriate substantiation for its findings.
  (2) Licensees administer, score, interpret or use assessment techniques or tests only if they are familiar with the reliability, validation and related standardization or outcome studies of, and proper applications and use of, the techniques they use.
  (3) Licensees who administer, score, interpret or utilize psychological assessment techniques, tests or instruments do so in a manner and for purposes for which there are professional or scientific bases.
  (4) Licensees do not base their assessment or intervention decisions or recommendations on data or test results that are outdated for the current purpose.
  (5) Licensees do not base decisions or recommendations on tests and measures that are obsolete or not useful for the current purpose.
(c) Limitations.
  (1) Licensees include all information that provides the basis for their findings in any report in which they make findings or diagnoses about an individual.
  (2) Licensees identify limits to the certainty with which diagnoses, judgments, or predictions can be made about individuals.
  (3) Licensees identify various test factors and characteristics of the person being assessed that might affect their professional judgment or reduce the accuracy of their interpretations when interpreting assessment results, including automated interpretations.
  (4) Licensees include any significant reservations they have about the accuracy or limitations of their interpretations or findings in any report they produce.
  (5) Licensees provide opinions of the psychological characteristics of individuals only after they have conducted an examination of the individuals adequate to support their statements or conclusions. When such an examination is not practical, licensees document the efforts they made to obtain such an examination and clarify the probable impact of their limited information to the reliability and validity of their conclusions.
  (6) Licensees must meet any education, training, or licensure requirements established by a test publisher for the purchase or use of its test materials. It is presumed that a licensee meets any such requirements if a test publisher or other authorized vendor, sells test materials to a licensee. Any false or misleading representation by a licensee regarding the individual's qualifications will negate this presumption.
(d) Test Security and Validity. Licensees conduct testing and maintain and release test protocols and data in a secure manner that does not compromise the validity of the test.
(e) Production of Reports.
  (1) Licensees shall provide the patient, client, or subject of the evaluation with an estimate of the time needed to produce a report prior to conducting any evaluation, assessment, or testing.
  (2) Licensees shall produce a report within a reasonable time period following completion of the evaluation, assessment, or testing needed to substantiate the report.
  (3) Licensees shall notify a patient, client, or subject of the evaluation if a report cannot be produced within the original estimated time period and provide a new production date together with a reasonable explanation for why the report will be delayed.

Source Note: The provisions of this §465.16 adopted to be effective October 7, 2020, 45 TexReg 7013