A policy and procedure manual written for your program, not someone else's.

The short answer: a licensed Texas SUD program must run from a written operational plan and policies its governing body adopts (26 TAC 564.502), and accreditors read the same manual chapter by chapter. Ours is $7,500, written for your program in editable Word, organized by accreditation chapter (leadership, rights, care, records, information, medications, infection control, environment of care, life safety, emergency management, human resources, performance improvement), with a crosswalk matching every 26 TAC 564 rule to the policy, form or record that meets it. Solo and group practices need the smaller kit, $1,250.

Why a bought template fails

• It describes a different program. Residential rules about bed checks and meals in an outpatient program, medication administration policies in a program that keeps no medications, adolescent consent rules when you serve only adults.
• It cites the wrong rules. HHSC moved the Texas SUD facility rules from 25 TAC chapters 441 and 448 to 26 TAC chapter 564 effective April 30, 2024 (Texas Register transfer notice). A manual still citing chapter 448 tells a surveyor nobody has read it lately.
• Staff can't follow it. A tracer asks staff what they do and where it's written. If the policy says the treatment plan is done in 7 days and your counselors do it in 14, the policy is the finding.
• Nobody adopted it. No governing body minutes, no effective date, no annual review. A manual is a decision, not a document.

What's in the manual, chapter by chapter

Grouped by the chapters of the Joint Commission's behavioral health manual, so a surveyor can find each policy fast. If you'll be CARF-accredited, the same policies map to CARF's sections; that mapping is part of accreditation readiness. Chapter names change between editions, so we check them against the edition you'll be surveyed under.

Chapter	Policies it holds (examples)
Leadership	Governing body and lines of authority, program description and scope of services, organizational chart, ethics and conflicts of interest, referral and marketing compliance (EKRA and the Texas Patient Solicitation Act), compliance program and exclusion screening, contracted services, culture of safety
Rights and responsibilities	Client rights, grievances, abuse, neglect and exploitation reporting, informed consent, confidentiality under HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2, language access and disability accommodations, fees and estimates
Care, treatment and services	Screening and admission, assessment and reassessment, treatment planning, group services and curriculum, continued stay and utilization review, discharge and aftercare, suicide risk screening and crisis response, drug screening, family involvement, coordination of care, telehealth
Record of care	Documentation standards and deadlines, group notes, late entries and corrections (never backdated), electronic signatures, retention and destruction
Information management	Releases of information, security and access control, EHR downtime, breach response, client access to records
Medication management	Storage, orders, counts and disposal (or a no-medications-on-site policy), naloxone and overdose response, medications for opioid use disorder, reconciliation
Infection prevention and control	The infection control plan, staff TB screening, bloodborne pathogen exposure
Environment of care and life safety	Safety rounds, ligature and self-harm risk, security and workplace violence, hazardous materials, smoking and vaping, exits, alarms and extinguishers, fire response and drills
Emergency management	The emergency plan and hazard vulnerability analysis, continuity of operations, drills and after-action review
Human resources	Job descriptions, orientation, license verification and exclusion checks, clinical supervision, competency and annual training, evaluations, the employee handbook
Performance improvement	The improvement plan and its measures, incident reporting and review, serious event review, client satisfaction
Patient safety and waived testing	Identifying clients with two identifiers, suicide risk reduction, medication information at transitions, point-of-care drug testing under your CLIA certificate

Every policy opens with its effective date and owner and closes with a review log: leadership reviews it at least once a year, and sooner when a rule, payer contract or standard changes or an incident shows a gap. The environment-of-care and emergency plans come with a drill schedule; Comply's emergency operations plan guide and hazard vulnerability analysis show what surveyors look for in them.

The Texas 26 TAC 564 crosswalk

HHSC licenses Texas SUD programs against 26 TAC chapter 564. The crosswalk lists each rule that applies to your program and the policy, form or record that meets it, which is what makes the license application and the inspection go smoothly. A few of the rows:

Rule	What it requires	Where the manual meets it
564.502	A written operational plan and policies adopted by the governing body, including client rights and abuse, neglect and exploitation	Leadership chapter; the governing body's adoption minutes
564.504	Utilization review of placement, adequacy of services and length of stay	Continued stay and utilization review policy
564.506	Postings: client rights, HHSC complaint information and the grievance procedure	Rights chapter; the posters and their locations
564.507	Complete, dated, authenticated record entries; proper corrections	Record of care chapter: documentation, signatures and corrections
564.508(h)	Records kept at least 6 years (adolescents, at least 5 years after age 18)	Retention and destruction policy
564.509(c)	An internal incident report within 24 hours	Incident reporting and review policy

The whole chapter in plain English, with every deadline, is in 26 TAC 564 requirements, and the HHSC inspection checklist shows how an inspector uses them. Mental-health-only programs aren't under chapter 564; we build their crosswalk to whatever applies (mental health IOP licensing) and to the accreditor's standards.

How it's written for your program

1. The questionnaire. After the kickoff you answer a short set of questions: levels of care and hours, adults or adolescents, SUD, mental health or co-occurring, telehealth, medications on site or not, drug testing in house or by a lab, your staff roles and who your privacy, security and compliance officers are.
2. The program description first. Every other policy follows from it, so we write and agree on it before anything else.
3. Drafting. On our roadmap the manual is written in about a month after the program model and governing body are settled. Every word is original: accreditation chapters and standards are named, never copied, and rules are cited by number.
4. The decisions are yours. Where a policy needs a choice (how often drug screens are collected, the discharge criteria, the treatment plan deadline within what the rule allows), we show you the options and the trade-offs, and write what you decide.

Review and adoption

1. Your clinical director and program director read it against what staff actually do. We revise until it matches.
2. Your health-care attorney reviews it. Each document carries a review note saying so; we're not a law firm.
3. The governing body adopts it, with dated minutes. That's the record HHSC and accreditors ask for first.
4. Staff are trained on it and sign that they've read it, and the training goes in their files.
5. It's reviewed at least yearly. The program compliance partner ($5,500 per month) updates policies when the rules change.

Price and what's included

The program manual is $7,500, flat:

• Every chapter: rights, care, records, medications, infection control, safety, emergency management, HR, leadership, performance improvement
• Environment-of-care and emergency plans
• State-rule crosswalk
• Editable Word files

It's included in the IOP / PHP Program Launch ($39,500), along with the intake packet, consents and Part 2 releases. If you're filing for the Texas license, the state facility license application service ($7,500) prepares the HHSC application and operational plan, checks the required policies against the rules and walks the building with you before the inspection.

The practice kit, for solo and group practices

A therapy or prescriber practice doesn't need a program manual. It needs HIPAA policies and the client forms, under its own name, for $1,250:

• HIPAA privacy and security policies and risk assessment worksheet
• Notice of privacy practices
• Consent to treatment, telehealth, financial policy, good faith estimate
• Release of information (42 CFR Part 2 ready)
• Editable Word files

The HIPAA Security Rule requires a written risk analysis, which the worksheet walks through (HHS); practices that treat substance use and are federally assisted also follow 42 CFR Part 2, which the release form is written for. The kit comes with the solo and group launch packages; see starting a private practice in Texas.

What's not included

• Your attorney's review, and any legal opinion on ownership, contracts or employment law.
• The employee handbook, job descriptions and offer letters for a group (they're in the Group Practice Launch); programs get job descriptions and credential files with the program launch.
• The accreditor's standards manual itself, which you buy from the accreditor.
• Any promise that HHSC or a surveyor will find nothing. A manual is necessary; following it is what passes.

Questions

Does a Texas IOP need a policy and procedure manual?

A licensed SUD program does: 26 TAC 564.502 requires a written operational plan and policies the governing body adopts, and HHSC checks them at inspection. Accreditors expect one organized around their standards, and many insurance plans ask for policies with a facility application.

How much does a policy and procedure manual cost?

Ours is $7,500 for a program and $1,250 for a practice kit. Generic templates cost less, and the difference is the rewriting you'd do yourself to make one fit your program and Texas rules.

How long does it take?

On our roadmap, about a month of drafting after the program model and governing body are settled, then your review, your attorney's review and adoption. Your answers to the questionnaire set the pace more than our writing does.

Is it organized for the Joint Commission or CARF?

It's grouped by the Joint Commission's behavioral health chapters, which also makes it easy to map to CARF. If you'll be CARF-accredited, the gap assessment in accreditation readiness maps every policy to CARF's sections.

Can we edit it after it's delivered?

Yes. It's in editable Word, under your program's name, and you can change and copy it for your own programs, permanently. Keep the review log current when you do.

Does it cover 42 CFR Part 2?

Yes. The confidentiality policy, the consent and release forms and the notice use the Part 2 language for programs that hold themselves out as treating substance use disorders. The 2024 rule moved Part 2 closer to HIPAA, with a compliance date of February 16, 2026.

Sources

• Texas Administrative Code, 26 TAC chapter 564, chemical dependency treatment facilities (Cornell LII)
• Texas Register, transfer of 25 TAC chapters 441 and 448 to 26 TAC chapter 564
• HHSC, Chemical dependency treatment facilities
• Joint Commission, Behavioral health care standards sampler; CARF, Our standards
• HHS, The HIPAA Security Rule; eCFR, 42 CFR Part 2

Updated October 24, 2026. Not legal advice: rules change, so check the current Texas Administrative Code and have your health-care attorney review every policy.