Surrogate Decision-making Program Needs Volunteers to Serve on Surrogate Consent Committees

The Surrogate Decision-making Program (SDMP) is a legislatively mandated process authorizing Surrogate Consent Committees (SCCs) comprised of trained volunteers to provide written, informed consent for community-based Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) for Individuals with an Intellectual Disability (IID), who have been assessed to lack the capacity to make certain treatment decisions for themselves and have no legal guardian or actively involved family members serving as Surrogate Decision Makers (SDMs), or the treatment decisions are beyond the scope of the SDMs.

The SDMP provides a mechanism for obtaining informed consent for individuals who lack the capacity to make treatment decisions, promotes and encourages individual empowerment and the preservation of dignity, and facilitates compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 42 and state ICF/IID rules regarding protection of individuals rights.

In order for the program to continue to successfully fulfill its mandate, additional trained volunteers are needed to serve on SCCs. At least one volunteer in each committee must be a health care professional, who is licensed or registered in Texas and who has specialized training in medicine, psychopharmacology, nursing, psychology, or has demonstrated expertise or interest in the care and treatment of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

SCC meetings are held via Microsoft Teams. Ideally, SCC members will all work for the same provider or be associated with the same provider. The SCC members will need to be in the same room when making treatment decisions.

For more information on the SDMP, including a comprehensive list of treatment decisions that a SCC can and cannot make, please see the Surrogate Decision-making Program website.

If you have any questions pertaining to SCCs, or would like to volunteer, contact Randy Rowley, SDMP Manager, at randall.rowley@hhs.texas.gov or 512-438-4306.