The commissioner or his or her duly authorized representative shall, as circumstances may require, proceed as follows.

1. (1) Investigation may be made by staff of the Texas Department of Health (department) for the purpose of verifying the diagnosis, ascertaining the cause of the injury, obtaining a history of circumstances surrounding the injury, and discovering unreported cases.
2. (2) Subject to the confidentiality provisions of these sections, the department may collect, or cause to be collected, medical, demographic, or epidemiological information from any medical or laboratory record or file to help the department in the epidemiologic investigation of injuries and their causes.
3. (3) Information concerning the injury or its prevention may be given to the patient or a responsible member of the patient's household to prevent further injury(ies).

Source Note:The provisions of this §103.5 adopted to be effective March 1, 1994, 19 TexReg 1104.