(1) The board shall operate and maintain the program.
The board shall adopt all rules necessary to implement the program.
The program is available for query only to the following persons or groups of persons:
Board staff responsible for administering the program;
Any practitioner with the statutory authority to prescribe controlled substances, or anindividual designated by the practitioner to act on his or her behalf in accordance with section 12-280-403 (2)(b), to the extent the query relates to a current patient of the practitioner. The practitioner or his or her designee shall identify his or her area of health care specialty or practice upon the initial query of the program.
(I) Any veterinarian with statutory authority to prescribe controlled substances, to theextent the query relates to a current patient or to a client and if the veterinarian, in the exercise of professional judgment, has a reasonable basis to suspect the client has committed drug abuse or has mistreated an animal.
(II) As used in this subsection (3)(c):
"Client" has the same meaning as set forth in section 12-315-104 (4).
"Mistreat" has the same meaning as set forth in section 35-42-103 (9).
"Patient" has the same meaning as set forth in section 12-315-104 (13).
A practitioner, or an individual designated by the practitioner to act on his or herbehalf in accordance with section 12-280-403 (2)(b), engaged in a legitimate program to monitor a patient's drug abuse;
The medical director, or his or her designee, at a facility that treats substance usedisorders with controlled substances, if an individual in treatment at the facility gives permission to the facility to access his or her program records;
A pharmacist, an individual designated by a pharmacist in accordance with section12-280-403 (2)(b) to act on his or her behalf, or a pharmacist licensed in another state, to the extent the information requested relates specifically to a current patient to whom the pharmacist is dispensing or considering dispensing a controlled substance or prescription drug or a patient to whom the pharmacist is currently providing clinical patient care services;
Law enforcement officials so long as the information released is specific to an individual patient, pharmacy, or practitioner and is part of a bona fide investigation, and the request for information is accompanied by an official court order or subpoena;
The individual who is the recipient of a controlled substance prescription so long asthe information released is specific to the individual;
State regulatory boards within the division and the director, so long as the information released is specific to an individual practitioner and is part of a bona fide investigation, and the request for information is accompanied by an official court order or subpoena;
A resident physician with an active physician training license issued by the Coloradomedical board pursuant to section 12-240-128 and under the supervision of a licensed physician;
The department of public health and environment for purposes of population-levelanalysis, but any use of program data by the department is subject to the federal "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996", Pub.L. 104-191, as amended, and implementing federal regulations, including the requirement to remove any identifying data unless exempted from the requirement;
A medical examiner who is a physician licensed pursuant to article 240 of this title12, whose license is in good standing, and who is located and employed in the state of Colorado, or a coroner elected pursuant to section 30-10-601, if:
The information released is specific to an individual who is the subject of an autopsyconducted by the medical examiner or coroner;
The medical examiner or the coroner has legitimate access to the individual's medical record; and
The individual's death or injury occurred under unusual, suspicious, or unnaturalcircumstances.
(4) (a) Each practitioner or his or her designee shall query the program prior to prescribing the second fill for an opioid unless the patient receiving the prescription:
Is receiving the opioid in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, residential facility, orcorrectional facility;
Has been diagnosed with cancer and is experiencing cancer-related pain;
Is undergoing palliative care or hospice care;
Is experiencing post-surgical pain that, because of the nature of the procedure, isexpected to last more than fourteen days;
Is receiving treatment during a natural disaster or during an incident where masscasualties have taken place; or
Has received only a single dose to relieve pain for a single test or procedure.
The program must use industry standards to allow providers or their designees directaccess to data from within an electronic health record to the extent that the query relates to a current patient of the practitioner.
A practitioner or his or her designee complies with this subsection (4) if he or sheattempts to access the program prior to prescribing the second fill for an opioid, and the program is not available or is inaccessible due to technical failure.
A violation of this subsection (4) does not create a private right of action or serve asthe basis of a cause of action. A violation of this subsection (4) does not constitute negligence per se or contributory negligence per se and does not alone establish a standard of care. Compliance with this subsection (4) does not alone establish an absolute defense to any alleged breach of the standard of care.
This subsection (4) is repealed, effective September 1, 2021.
The board shall not charge a practitioner or pharmacy who transmits data in compliance with the operation and maintenance of the program a fee for the transmission of the data.
The board, the department of public health and environment, or the department ofhealth care policy and financing, pursuant to a written agreement that ensures compliance with this part 4, may provide data to qualified personnel of a public or private entity for the purpose of bona fide research or education so long as the data does not identify a recipient of, a practitioner who prescribed, or a prescription drug outlet that dispensed, a prescription drug.
The board shall provide a means of sharing information about individuals whoseinformation is recorded in the program with out-of-state health care practitioners and law enforcement officials that meet the requirements of subsection (3)(b), (3)(d), or (3)(g) of this section.
The board shall develop criteria for indicators of misuse, abuse, and diversion ofcontrolled substances and, based on those criteria, provide unsolicited reports of dispensed controlled substances to prescribing practitioners and dispensing pharmacies for purposes of education and intervention to prevent and reduce occurrences of controlled substance misuse, abuse, and diversion. In developing the criteria, the board shall consult with the Colorado dental board, Colorado medical board, state board of nursing, state board of optometry, Colorado podiatry board, and state board of veterinary medicine.
Reports generated by the program and provided to prescribing practitioners for purposes of information, education, and intervention to prevent and reduce occurrences of controlled substance misuse, abuse, and diversion are:
Not public records under the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article 72 oftitle 24;
Not discoverable in any criminal or administrative proceeding against a prescribingpractitioner; and
Not admissible in any civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding against a prescribing practitioner.
Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1497, § 1, effective October 1; (3)(l) added, (SB 19-228), ch. 276, p. 2610, § 18, effective October 1.
Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 12-42.5-404 as it existed prior to 2019.
(2) Before its relocation in 2019, this section was amended in SB 19-228. Those amendments were superseded by the repeal and reenactment of this title 12, effective October 1, 2019. For those amendments to the former section in effect from May 23, 2019, to October 1, 2019, see SB 19-228, chapter 276, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.