(a) A recovery residence shall not engage in any of the following marketing practices:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 33-2-1403

  • ADTF: means an institution, treatment resource, group residence (boarding home, sheltered workshop, activity center), rehabilitation center, hospital, community mental health center, nonresidential office-based opiate treatment facility, nonresidential substitution-based treatment center for opiate addiction, DUI school, counseling center, clinic, halfway house, recovery residence, or other entity, by these or other names, providing alcohol and drug services. See Tennessee Code 33-2-1401
  • Alcohol and drug services: includes evaluation, treatment, residential personal care, habilitation, rehabilitation, counseling, or supervision of persons with substance use disorder, or services to persons designed to prevent substance use disorder that either receive funds from the department of health or assess fees for services provided. See Tennessee Code 33-2-1401
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Recovery residence: means any ADTF, including any residence classified as a single family residence under §. See Tennessee Code 33-2-1401
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
(1) Making a materially false or misleading statement or providing materially false or misleading information about the residence’s identity, products, goods, services, or geographical locations in its marketing, advertising materials, or media, or on its website;
(2) Including on its website false information or electronic links, coding, or activation that provides false information or that surreptitiously directs the reader to another website;
(3) Soliciting, receiving, or making an attempt to solicit or receive a commission, benefit, rebate, kickback, or bribe, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, or engaging or making an attempt to engage in a split-fee arrangement in return for a referral or an acceptance or acknowledgement of treatment from a service provider of alcohol and drug services or ADTF; or
(4) Entering into a contract with a marketing provider who agrees to generate referrals or leads for the placement of patients with a service provider of alcohol and drug services or in an ADTF through a call center or a web-based presence. This subdivision (a)(4) does not apply if the service provider of alcohol and drug services or the operator of the ADTF discloses to the prospective patient, so that the patient can make an informed healthcare decision, in clear and concise language and instructions that allow the prospective patient to easily determine whether the marketing provider represents specific service providers or recovery residences that pay a fee to the marketing provider, and the identity of the service providers of alcohol and drug services or ADTF.
(b) In addition to any other punishment authorized by law, a person or entity that knowingly violates this section is subject to:

(1) Suspension or revocation of the recovery residence’s status as an approved recovery residence for purposes of the list maintained by the department of mental health and substance abuse services pursuant to § 33-2-1402(a); and
(2) Action by the attorney general and reporter or a person described in § 47-18-109(a)(1) under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act of 1977, as compiled in title 47, chapter 18, part 1.
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