(a)  If treatment is provided by an approved public treatment facility and the patient has not paid the charge for that treatment, the department is entitled to any payment:

(1)  Received by the patient or to which he or she may be entitled because of the services rendered; and

(2)  From any public or private source available to the department because of the treatment provided to the patient.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.10-15

  • Approved public treatment facility: means a treatment agency operating under the direction and control of the department or providing treatment under this chapter through a contract with the department under § 23-1. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.10-2
  • Department: means department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals;

    (5)  "Director" means the director of the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals;

    (6)  "Incapacitated by alcohol" means a person, who as a result of the use of alcohol is intoxicated to such an extent that he or she is unconscious or has his or her judgment otherwise so impaired that he or she is incapable of realizing and making a rational decision with respect to his or her need for treatment;

    (7)  "Incompetent person" means a person who has been adjudged incompetent by the probate court of the city and town in which the person resides, or any other court of competent jurisdiction;

    (8)  "Intoxicated person" means a person whose mental or physical functioning is substantially impaired as a result of the use of alcohol;

    (9)  "Treatment" means the broad range of emergency, outpatient, intermediate, and inpatient services and care, including diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological, and social service care, vocational rehabilitation and career counseling, which may be extended to alcoholics and intoxicated persons. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-1.10-2

  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.

(b)  A patient in an approved treatment facility, or the estate of the patient, or a person obligated to provide for the cost of treatment and having sufficient financial ability, is liable to the division for cost of maintenance and treatment of the patient in an approved treatment facility in accordance with established rates.

(c)  The director shall adopt rules governing financial ability that take into consideration the income, savings, and other personal and real property of the person required to pay, and any support being furnished by him or her to any person he or she is required by law to support.

History of Section.
P.L. 1951, ch. 2755, § 17; G.L. 1956, § 40-12-20; P.L. 1972, ch. 130, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 40.1-4-15; P.L. 1995, ch. 370, art. 14, § 4.