(1) The department recommends that each primary health care provider or physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner who treats a patient in an inpatient or outpatient setting offer a person born between the years of 1945 and 1965 a hepatitis C screening test or hepatitis C diagnostic test unless the health care provider providing such services reasonably believes that:
The patient is being treated for a life-threatening emergency;
The patient has previously been offered or has been the subject of a hepatitis Cscreening; or
The patient lacks capacity to consent to a hepatitis C screening test.
If a patient accepts the offer of a hepatitis C screening test and the screening test isreactive, the health care provider may either offer the patient follow-up health care or refer the individual to a health care provider who can provide follow-up health care, including a hepatitis C diagnostic test.
The health care provider shall make the offer of a hepatitis C screening to the patientin a linguistically and culturally appropriate manner, as determined by rules promulgated by the department.
Nothing in this section affects the scope of practice of a health care provider ordiminishes any authority or legal or professional obligation of a health care provider to offer a hepatitis C screening test or hepatitis C diagnostic test or to provide services or care for the subject of a hepatitis C screening test or hepatitis C diagnostic test.
As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Hepatitis C diagnostic test" means a laboratory test or tests that detect the presenceof hepatitis C virus in the blood and provide confirmation of whether the patient has a hepatitis C infection.
"Hepatitis C screening test" means a federal food and drug administration-approvedrapid point of care test or other food and drug administration-approved tests that detect the presence of hepatitis C virus antibodies in the blood.
Source: L. 2014: Entire section added, (SB 14-173), ch. 233, p. 863, § 2, effective August 6.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 14-173, see section 1 of chapter 233, Session Laws of Colorado 2014.