Mandatory Reporting Obligations
Communicable-Disease Reporting
List, Actor, and Recipient
The statutory reporting framework separates the current disease list, reporter-specific triggers, routing, agency procedures, and confidentiality.
Structured Visual
Jurisdiction: TX; as of 2026-09-11; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Scope and honesty note
Jurisdiction: Texas medical-practice statutes, as of 2026-09-11. This classroom page provides legal information, not legal or medical advice. It does not assess a patient, clinician, license, report, prescription, disclosure, privilege, disciplinary ground, offense, or outcome. Current statutes, agency rules, facts, procedure, and professional standards may differ. Render only pinned structure; refuse unsupported interpretation or action; cite, abstain, and hand off to qualified legal, medical, regulatory, or emergency professionals.
The rule in plain terms
Section 81.041 requires identification, classification, maintenance, and revision of the reportable-disease list. It is not a complete current administrative list; it expressly addresses HIV/AIDS and permits a distinct public-health-disaster reporting mechanism. Under Section 81.042(b), a physician or Texas-licensed dentist or veterinarian reports an examined patient or animal with, or suspected of having, a reportable disease after the first professional encounter. School and laboratory duties have their own predicates. Reports under subsections (b) through (d) go to the local health authority. The subsection (e) reporters act under its condition that the required report was not otherwise made and may report to the local health authority or the department. Section 81.044 governs procedure; Section 81.046 protects confidentiality subject to its exceptions.
Reportable-disease framework
The executive commissioner maintains the reportable list; the statute also identifies specific reporting and public-health-disaster provisions. Verbatim statutory text: “(a) The executive commissioner shall identify each communicable disease or health condition that shall be reported under this chapter. (b) The executive commissioner shall classify each reportable disease according to its nature and the severity of its effect on the public health. (c) The executive commissioner shall maintain and revise as necessary the list of reportable diseases. (d) The executive commissioner may establish registries for reportable diseases and other communicable diseases and health conditions. The provision to the department of information relating to a communicable disease or health condition that is not classified as reportable is voluntary only. (e) Acquired immune deficiency syndrome and human immunodeficiency virus infection are reportable diseases under this chapter for which the executive commissioner shall require reports. (f) In a public health disaster, the commissioner may require reports of communicable diseases or other health conditions from providers without the adoption of a rule or other action by the executive commissioner. The commissioner shall issue appropriate instructions relating to complying with the reporting requirements of this section.” Legal citation: Tex. Health Safety Code § 81.041. Pinned source: https://www.neochart.com/catalog/texas/health_safety/chapter_81/section_81_041/tex_hs_81_041_05e31c79455f/tex_health_safety_code_sec_81_041_reportable_diseases_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-09-11.
Reporters and routes
Professionals, laboratories, schools, and conditional fallback reporters have different statutory triggers and recipients. Verbatim statutory text: “(a) A report under Subsection (b), (c), or (d) shall be made to the local health authority. (b) A dentist or veterinarian licensed to practice in this state or a physician shall report, after the first professional encounter, a patient or animal examined that has or is suspected of having a reportable disease. (c) A local school authority shall report a child attending school who is suspected of having a reportable disease. The executive commissioner by rule shall establish procedures to determine if a child should be suspected and reported and to exclude the child from school pending appropriate medical diagnosis or recovery. (d) A person in charge of a clinical or hospital laboratory, blood bank, mobile unit, or other facility in which a laboratory examination of a specimen derived from a human body yields microscopical, cultural, serological, or other evidence of a reportable disease shall report the findings, in accordance with this section and procedures adopted by the executive commissioner, in the jurisdiction in which: (1) the physician's office is located, if the laboratory examination was requested by a physician; or (2) the laboratory is located, if the laboratory examination was not requested by a physician. (e) The following persons shall report to the local health authority or the department a suspected case of a reportable disease and all information known concerning the person who has or is suspected of having the disease if a report is not made as required by Subsections (a)-(d): (1) a professional registered nurse; (2) an administrator or director of a public or private temporary or permanent child-care facility; (3) an administrator or director of a nursing home, personal care home, adult respite care center, or day activity and health services facility; (4) an administrator of a home health agency; (5) an administrator or health official of a public or private institution of higher education; (6) an owner or manager of a restaurant, dairy, or other food handling or processing establishment or outlet; (7) a superintendent, manager, or health official of a public or private camp, home, or institution; (8) a parent, guardian, or householder; (9) a health professional; (10) an administrator or health official of a penal or correctional institution; or (11) emergency medical service personnel, a peace officer, or a firefighter.” Legal citation: Tex. Health Safety Code § 81.042. Pinned source: https://www.neochart.com/catalog/texas/health_safety/chapter_81/section_81_042/tex_hs_81_042_6c154608550e/tex_health_safety_code_sec_81_042_persons_required_to_report_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-09-11.
Reporting procedures
The executive commissioner prescribes form and method and may require specified information; additional procedures cannot be invented from the list provision. Verbatim statutory text: “(a) The executive commissioner shall prescribe the form and method of reporting under this chapter by electronic data transmission, through a health information exchange as defined by Section 182.151 if requested and authorized by the person required to report, or by other means. (b) The executive commissioner may require the reports to contain any information relating to a case that is necessary for the purposes of this chapter, including: (1) the patient's name, address, age, sex, race, and occupation; (2) the date of onset of the disease or condition; (3) the probable source of infection; and (4) the name of the attending physician or dentist. (b-1) In this subsection, "cycle threshold value" means for a communicable disease test the number of thermal cycles required for the fluorescent signal to exceed that of the background and cross the threshold for a positive test. The executive commissioner shall require the reports of polymerase chain reaction tests from clinical or hospital laboratories to contain the cycle threshold values and their reference ranges. (c) The commissioner may authorize an alternate routing of information in particular cases if the commissioner determines that the reporting procedure would cause the information to be unduly delayed. (d) For a case of acquired immune deficiency syndrome or human immunodeficiency virus infection, the executive commissioner shall require the reports to contain: (1) the information described by Subsection (b); and (2) the patient's ethnicity, national origin, and city and county of residence.” Legal citation: Tex. Health Safety Code § 81.044. Pinned source: https://www.neochart.com/catalog/texas/health_safety/chapter_81/section_81_044/tex_hs_81_044_122be2880f98/tex_health_safety_code_sec_81_044_reporting_procedures_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-09-11.
Confidential reports
Confidentiality and enumerated release provisions qualify access to report information. Verbatim statutory text: “(a) Reports, records, and information received from any source, including from a federal agency or from another state, furnished to a public health district, a health authority, a local health department, or the department that relate to cases or suspected cases of diseases or health conditions are confidential and may be used only for the purposes of this chapter. (b) Reports, records, and information relating to cases or suspected cases of diseases or health conditions are not public information under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may not be released or made public on subpoena or otherwise except as provided by: (1) Subsections (c), (c-1), (d), and (f); and (2) Section 181.060. (c) Medical or epidemiological information, including information linking a person who is exposed to a person with a communicable disease, may be released: (1) for statistical purposes if released in a manner that prevents the identification of any person; (2) with the consent of each person identified in the information; (3) to medical personnel treating the individual, appropriate state agencies in this state or another state, a health authority or local health department in this state or another state, or federal, county, or district courts to comply with this chapter and related rules relating to the control and treatment of communicable diseases and health conditions or under another state or federal law that expressly authorizes the disclosure of this information; (4) to appropriate federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but, except as provided under Subsection (c-3), the information must be limited to the name, address, sex, race, and occupation of the patient, the date of disease onset, the probable source of infection, and other requested information relating to the case or suspected case of a communicable disease or health condition; (5) to medical personnel to the extent necessary in a medical emergency to protect the health or life of the person identified in the information; (6) to a designated infection control officer; (7) to governmental entities that provide first responders who may respond to a situation involving a potential communicable disease of concern and need the information to properly respond to the situation; or (8) to a local health department or health authority for a designated monitoring period based on the potential risk for developing symptoms of a communicable disease of concern. (c-1) A local health department or health authority shall provide to first responders the physical address of a person who is being monitored by the local department or authority for a communicable disease for the duration of the disease's incubation period. The local health department, health authority, or other governmental entity, as applicable, shall remove the person's physical address from any computer-aided dispatch system after the monitoring period expires. (c-2) Only the minimum necessary information may be released under Subsections (c)(6) and (7) and (c-1), as determined by a health authority, local health department, governmental entity, or department. (c-3) The following medical or epidemiological information relating to a person who has or is suspected of having a present or potential health condition resulting from exposure to a high consequence communicable disease as defined by the department, including the Zika virus, may be released to an appropriate federal agency: (1) the name, address, sex, race, and occupation of the person; (2) the date of the onset of the health condition; (3) the probable source of infection or exposure; and (4) other requested information relating to the case or suspected case of the infection. (d) In a case of sexually transmitted disease involving a minor under 14 years of age, information may not be released, except that the child's name, age, and address and the name of the disease may be released to appropriate agents as required by Chapter 261, Family Code. This subsection does not affect a person's duty to report child abuse or neglect under Subchapter B, Chapter 261, Family Code, except that information made confidential by this chapter may not be released. If that information is required in a court proceeding involving child abuse, the information shall be disclosed in camera. (e) A state or public health district officer or employee, local health department officer or employee, or health authority may not be examined in a civil, criminal, special, or other proceeding as to the existence or contents of pertinent records of, or reports or information about, a person examined or treated for a reportable disease by the public health district, local health department, or health authority without that person's consent. (f) Reports, records, and information relating to cases or suspected cases of diseases or health conditions may be released to the extent necessary during a public health disaster, including an outbreak of a communicable disease, to law enforcement personnel and first responders solely for the purpose of protecting the health or life of a first responder or the person identified in the report, record, or information. Only the minimum necessary information may be released under this subsection, as determined by the health authority, the local health department, or the department. (g) A judge of a county or district court may issue a protective order or take other action to limit disclosure of medical or epidemiological information obtained under this section before that information is entered into evidence or otherwise disclosed in a court proceeding. (h) For purposes of this section, "first responder" has the meaning assigned by Section 421.095, Government Code.” Legal citation: Tex. Health Safety Code § 81.046. Pinned source: https://www.neochart.com/catalog/texas/health_safety/chapter_81/section_81_046/tex_hs_81_046_55f0e25dd88c/tex_health_safety_code_sec_81_046_confidentiality_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-09-11.
Work the pinned classroom record
A synthetic clinic packet records the current list source, a physician's first professional encounter, the suspected reportable condition, the local health authority, the prescribed reporting method, and the confidential report record. A separate laboratory packet checks the laboratory-specific predicate and jurisdiction. A fallback-reporter packet records whether the report required under the preceding subsections was not made before considering subsection (e). These records organize facts for authorized review; they do not diagnose a disease, determine that a real person is reportable, or decide whether an exception to confidentiality applies.
Limits and authored cross-references
No universal numeric reporting deadline is supplied by Sections 81.041 and 81.042. Current rules, current lists, and authorized instructions remain necessary for disease-specific procedures and timing. This page does not reproduce a frozen disease list, apply an invented clock, or equate all recipients with DSHS. Public-health-disaster instructions and alternate routing have their own statutory predicates. The information is not individual medical, public-health, or reporting advice.
Read the glanceable structure
The four-node review keeps the list, reporter, trigger-and-recipient match, and confidential record distinct. Different statutory reporting duties are not collapsed into one deadline. The diagram contains 4 deliberately limited nodes. It is a navigation aid, not law or advice; the words and pinned sources below control the classroom explanation.
Jurisdiction: TX; as of 2026-09-11; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Narrow summary
Use the current list and the correct reporter-specific provision, preserve routing and confidentiality, and obtain the applicable rule or instruction before asserting a timing requirement.