Colorado Adopts Law Protecting Prescription Drugs for Chronic Pain

On May 4th, Colorado’s Governor Polis signed into law Senate Bill 23-144, an act concerning prescription drugs for treating chronic pain.

Spearheaded by NPAC, in collaboration with Colorado-based groups focused on disability rights, older person's rights and care for people with chronic diseases, the new law will protect people living with pain who require opioid prescriptions above the dose thresholds found in state or federal prescribing guidelines or policies, prohibiting health care clinics from refusing to accept or continue to care for a patient based on the dosage of a drug the patient requires. Health systems are forbidden from having policies compelling the tapering of patients based on dosage alone. And pharmacy systems may no longer refuse to fill opioid prescriptions just because they exceed certain dosages.

Moreover, the Colorado law protects providers acting in good faith from disciplinary action solely for writing prescriptions that exceed dose thresholds specified in existing guidelines. This provision is a good example of how past NPAC policy advocacy can build and support new initiatives. In drafting the bill, NPAC was able to draw upon its success in last year's U.S. Supreme Court case, Ruan v. U.S.

The new law applies to people being treated for chronic pain, or pain that has lasted three months or longer, and it went to effect immediately upon being signed by the governor. NPAC will now work with the Colorado Medical Society to implement the law by training their providers to comply with the new legislation. This is critically important because there is a difference between having a law enacted and seeing it properly implemented.