Pre demand diligence is the 42 CFR 2.3(b) sequence completed before presenting a request, subpoena, or other records demand, or placing an undercover agent or informant, when a practice may provide SUD diagnosis, treatment, or referral. It combines federal and state searches, provider-site review, notice review, and a freshness window of no more than 60 days.
Editorial approval scope: The team checked current source fidelity, scope boundaries, dates, arithmetic, reader usefulness, practical workflow, and general-information limitations.
Current rule checkpoint
Live 42 CFR 2.3(b)(1) defines reasonable diligence before presenting a records request, subpoena, or other demand, or before placing an undercover agent or informant, when it is reasonable to believe the practice or provider offers SUD diagnosis, treatment, or referral services. All listed source checks and the timing requirement form the sequence.
The trigger is a reasonable belief about SUD services
42 CFR 2.3 defines the actions where it is reasonable to believe the practice or provider offers the covered services. Record the facts creating or resolving that belief rather than applying the checklist only after protected records appear.
All listed actions form the diligence record
Search the SAMHSA locator, a similar state database when available, the provider website or physical location, and an available Patient Notice or HIPAA NPP. Complete the actions in the prescribed timing window.
Evidence should reproduce the work
Keep the provider identity, aliases, addresses, search date, query, result, screenshots or exports, unavailable-source evidence, reviewer, planned demand or placement date, and escalation decision. Recheck when identity, location, timing, or service evidence changes.
Recognize the trigger
Record why the agency is considering a health care practice or provider and what facts create a reasonable belief that SUD diagnostic, treatment, or referral services may be offered. Use entity name, site, specialty, licenses, advertisements, referrals, program descriptions, public notices, and other lawful information. Avoid seeking patient identity to decide whether diligence applies.
When uncertainty remains, completing the defined checks usually produces a stronger record than assuming the rule is irrelevant.
Resolve the exact provider identity
Capture legal and trade names, parent and subsidiary entities, addresses, service sites, domains, former names, abbreviations, licenses, and identifiers. Determine which entity and location will receive the demand or placement. A system-level result may not answer whether the selected site is a Part 2 program.
Maintain a crosswalk so every search result can be tied to the correct practice, provider, and location.
Complete every source check
Search the SAMHSA online treatment locator. Search a similar state treatment-facility database where one is available. Review the provider's public website or physical location where available to determine whether it provides the relevant services. View the provider's Patient Notice or HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices if available online or at the physical location.
Record unavailable sources and access failures. A negative or ambiguous result in one source does not eliminate the remaining listed actions.
Create reproducible evidence
Save source URL, database name, search terms, filters, date and time, result pages, screenshots or exports, notice version, location observations, reviewer, and interpretation. Protect sealed investigative facts and avoid storing unnecessary patient data. Use a second-person review for entity matching and ambiguous evidence.
Document redirects, expired listings, unavailable databases, broken links, inconsistent addresses, and conflicts rather than silently choosing a result.
Govern timing and decision
Complete all actions within a reasonable period and no more than 60 days before the request, demand, or on-site placement. Set an expiration and refresh the sequence when the action is delayed, provider facts change, or the evidence is stale. Link the final applicability decision and counsel approval to the exact investigative instrument or placement.
If evidence indicates Part 2 may apply, route the action through the correct Part 2 authority and safeguards. Diligence is a detection control, not disclosure permission.
Resolve conflicts before action
Create a comparison table for federal locator, state database, website or location, and notice evidence. Show entity, site, service, status, date, limitation, and conflict. Ask a second reviewer to test name matching and source freshness. When sources disagree, pause the demand or placement and obtain counsel's documented applicability and authority decision. Preserve later corrections without overwriting the original record.
Example and controls
Ten planned demands enter review. Eight have every applicable source and a current timing record; two lack a state-source disposition. Diligence readiness is 8 of 10 demands. Hold release until the missing action is resolved.
Pre-demand-diligence checklist
- document the SUD-service facts that trigger the diligence question;
- resolve legal name, trade names, location, domain, and receiving entity;
- complete every listed federal, state, website or location, and notice check;
- preserve reproducible searches, results, unavailability, conflicts, and review;
- finish within reasonable timing and the 60-day outer boundary; and
- connect counsel's decision to the exact demand or placement.
A complete diligence file shows what was checked, when, for which provider, and how the results affected the investigative route.
Related terms
Sources
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