1. Program shall maintain a permanent, publicized Texas business address, which shall be open for business between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, except Texas State recognized holidays. The Program shall have a 24-hour per day telephone communication system, including a toll-free telephone number. Program must be available seven (7) days a week, 24 hours a day. 2. Program shall employ a full-time director (the “Program Director”) who shall be a licensed physician in the State of Texas with a specialty in peer assistance or have earned a master’s degree in counseling, social work, or psychology from an accredited four (4) year- college or university and has held a license for a minimum of four (4) years in his/her respective discipline, such as licensed master social worker (LMSW), licensed professional counselor (LPC) or licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT). 3. Program shall demonstrate a documented successful history of identification, intervention, assessment/initial evaluation, referral for treatment, and monitoring of impaired health-care professionals. 4. Program shall ensure continuity of services and monitoring for persons enrolled in the program including transfer of applicable client records/files from previous contract provider and to subsequent contract provider within seven (7) days of the contract period. Final payment shall be withheld until the Program provides the requisite records to the subsequent contract provider. 5. Program shall accept referrals from practitioners, students, family, friends, faculty, staff of any accredited veterinary institution of higher education, TBVME, any other credible source, or self-referrals for veterinarians impaired by chemical abuse, alcohol, or mental illness. The Program shall strongly encourage compelled and volunteer referrals to release information to TBVME.
