Opportunity Overview
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is accepting applications under HHS0013982, Residential Treatment Center (RTC) Private Bed Purchase. This is a long-running open-enrollment provider contracting pathway for Texas residential treatment centers serving children under age 18 with a serious emotional disturbance. The program is designed to help families access intensive residential mental-health treatment without surrendering parental conservatorship to DFPS solely to obtain needed care.
Enrollment Window and Contract Structure
The current enrollment period closes August 31, 2029 at 11:59 PM CDT. HHSC may award one or more contracts. The solicitation does not guarantee referral volume, utilization or compensation, and resulting contracts remain subject to appropriations and available funding.
Who Can Apply
An applicant must be a legal entity authorized to do business in Texas. The RTC must operate at a Texas address, be licensed by HHSC Residential Child Care Regulation as a General Residential Operation Residential Treatment Center, and remain in good standing. Required personnel must maintain all applicable permits, licenses and certifications, and the applicant must document relevant experience providing the required or similar services.
Payment and Clinical-Service Structure
For children referred and approved through the HHSC RTC Project, HHSC pays contracted providers the applicable intense-plus Residential Treatment Center rate established by DFPS. That HHSC payment covers room and board only. Psychiatric, nursing, medication-management, psychological, psychotherapy, counseling and other clinical services must be billed to Medicaid, the child’s insurance or another third-party payer as appropriate.
Program Fit
HHSC referrals consider geographic proximity to the family, age and gender, family choice, clinical need, medical stability, the RTC’s treatment protocols, bed availability and the provider’s ability to accept the child. The program is therefore most relevant to established Texas RTCs that already have the licensing, clinical infrastructure, payer relationships and operational capacity to admit high-acuity pediatric behavioral-health referrals.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 93/100. This is a highly actionable statewide pediatric behavioral-health contracting lane because qualified RTCs may enroll over a multi-year period rather than compete in a short grant cycle. It also addresses a consequential access problem by financing room and board for children who need residential psychiatric treatment while allowing families to retain guardianship.
N9+ Direct Vendor Fit: 0/100. The HHSC payment under this open enrollment is specifically the RTC room-and-board rate. Clinical services are financed separately through Medicaid, insurance or other third-party payers. Atlas should not represent N9+ hardware, platform licensing, telehealth, remote examination or other technology as reimbursable under HHS0013982 without a separate payer or funding basis.
Next Action
Qualified Texas RTCs should review the current open-enrollment package and all addenda, confirm GRO RTC licensure and good standing, assemble required licenses, experience documentation, organizational materials, service-plan information, insurance documentation and signed HHSC forms, and submit a searchable PDF application by email under the solicitation instructions before August 31, 2029 at 11:59 PM CDT.
Official source: Texas Health and Human Services Commission — HHS0013982.