A provider location check under 42 CFR 2.3(b) reviews a provider's publicly available website, where available, or physical location to determine whether it provides SUD diagnosis, treatment, or referral services. The reviewer should capture current, provider-specific evidence and compare it with locator, state-database, and notice results before a demand or undercover placement.
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)(iii) includes checking a provider's publicly available website, where available, or its physical location to determine whether SUD diagnostic, treatment, or referral services are actually provided. The check should examine the correct provider and site, use lawful public observations, and remain part of the full diligence sequence.
The source should reflect the actual provider
42 CFR 2.3 permits website or physical-location review. Verify entity name, site, service area, address, ownership, program unit, service description, referral language, and date. Avoid mixing similarly named organizations or unrelated branches.
Public evidence may be incomplete
Review service pages, intake materials, directories, footer entities, contact pages, office signage, and available patient materials. Record unavailable pages, redirects, stale content, access barriers, and differences between online and physical evidence.
The check supports a broader applicability decision
Compare the result with the SAMHSA locator, state database, and Patient Notice or NPP. Route conflicts to qualified counsel. Keep proposed demand or placement timing inside the rule's reasonable and 60-day window.
Match the provider and location
Record legal and trade names, domain, addresses, phone, service sites, parent and affiliated entities, and the exact destination for the demand or placement. Confirm that the public website belongs to the target provider and that site-specific pages refer to the relevant location. Preserve redirects, archived names, and shared branding that complicate the match.
Avoid attributing one affiliate's services to every organization in a network without evidence.
Review public website evidence
Examine service descriptions, admissions, referral instructions, clinician specialties, program names, location pages, FAQs, insurance information, notices, contact pages, and current downloadable materials. Record URL, page title, date and time, text or image evidence, site location, reviewer, and saved copy. Note login walls, broken links, outdated pages, and contradictory statements.
Do not submit a patient inquiry, create a clinical account, or disclose investigative facts merely to test services.
Conduct a lawful physical-location check
When the website is unavailable or insufficient and a location check is appropriate, define the public area, observer, date, site, permitted observations, safety plan, and documentation method. Review public signs, directories, posted service descriptions, hours, and available notices. Do not enter restricted clinical areas, impersonate a patient, record private conversations, or collect patient identity.
Qualified counsel and agency policy should govern any higher-risk observation or contact.
Interpret service evidence carefully
Determine whether public facts indicate SUD diagnosis, treatment, or referral services and whether they apply to the target entity and site. Distinguish current offerings from historical pages, general behavioral health, external referrals, educational content, and an affiliate's program. Record uncertainty and contrary evidence.
The public check informs reasonable diligence. It does not alone decide legal Part 2 coverage.
Complete, time, and audit the record
Combine the website or location findings with SAMHSA locator, available state database, and available Patient Notice or HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices evidence. Finish all actions within reasonable timing and no more than 60 days before the investigative step. Refresh after material changes or delay.
Audit entity matching, source capture, observation limits, patient-data avoidance, conflicts, decision routing, and linkage to the exact demand or placement.
Control changes between review and action
Monitor redirects, rebranding, acquisition notices, new service pages, moved locations, changed signs, and revised admissions information until the demand is served or placement begins. A saved page supports what was public on its capture date; it does not freeze the provider's operations. When a material change appears, refresh affected sources and counsel's applicability decision.
For physical checks, preserve who observed which public facts and prohibit repeat visits that drift into surveillance, patient contact, or restricted areas.
Review observer notes promptly.
Example and controls
Ten site reviews are completed. Nine identify the exact provider, source, date, SUD-service evidence, and cross-source result; one uses an unrelated directory. Completeness is 9 of 10 reviews.
Website-or-location checklist
- resolve the target provider, domain, entity, affiliate, and physical site;
- preserve current public service, admission, referral, and location evidence;
- limit physical checks to lawful public observations without patient data;
- distinguish actual current services from history, affiliates, and general content;
- reconcile findings with federal, state, and notice checks; and
- refresh on time and connect the decision to the investigative action.
The best record shows exactly what the public source revealed, what it could not establish, and how ambiguity was escalated.
Related terms
Sources
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