Colorado Legislative Council Staff

NO FISCAL IMPACT

TITLE:            CONCERNING LIMITED PRESCRIPTIVE AUTHORITY FOR CHIROPRACTORS, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, ESTABLISHING QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND GROUNDS FOR DISCIPLINE.

Summary of Assessment

            The provisions of this bill would authorize chiropractors, who apply for and obtain limited prescriptive authority from the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, to prescribe and administer specified pharmaceutical agents. The bill defines “pharmaceutical agents” to mean legend nutritional supplements, legend botanical preparations, legend homeopathic preparations, noncontrolled legend analgesics, nonsteroidal legend anti-inflammatory agents, and noncontrolled legend muscle relaxants. The bill would direct the board to adopt rules necessary to administer the application procedures and qualification requirements. In order to obtain limited prescriptive authority, chiropractors would be required to submit proof of satisfactory completion of a number of requirements as set forth in the bill.

            The bill will become effective at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the ninety-day period after adjournment sine die of the General Assembly, or on the date of the official declaration of the vote of the people as proclaimed by the Governor, if a referendum petition is filed pursuant to Article V, Section 1 (3) of the State Constitution.

            The certification process would be modeled after the certification process the board currently uses for chiropractors who practice acupuncture. It is believed that fewer than 50 chiropractors will apply for this limited prescriptive authority. The provision of this authority is expected to generate not more than one or two additional complaints each year. The board would adopt the necessary rules in conjunction with its current review of rules. No additional fees would be required for this special certification. The bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on the workload of the board, Division of Registrations, Department of Regulatory Agencies. The bill would not affect any other agency of the state, or unit of local government. Therefore the bill is assessed as having no fiscal impact.

Departments Contacted

            Regulatory Agencies