SB 25-129

Senate Bill 25-129, which has been signed into law in Colorado, aims to protect healthcare providers and patients from out-of-state legal actions related to certain health-care activities. It ensures that telehealth services provided by out-of-state practitioners are not subject to additional restrictions and clarifies prescription label requirements for medications like mifepristone and misoprostol. The bill also prohibits public entities from assisting in out-of-state investigations targeting healthcare providers who offer protected medical services, such as gender-affirming care or reproductive health services. This means that healthcare professionals can operate with more legal security when providing these services within Colorado's borders.

Official Summary

The act clarifies that requirements for out-of-state telehealth providers do not alter or limit the rights and protections afforded to a person concerning a legally protected health-care activity. Current law requires a prescription drug label to include the name of the prescribing practitioner. At the practitioner's request, the act authorizes a prescription label for mifepristone, misoprostol, and the generic alternatives to those prescriptions to include only the name of the prescribing health-care practice instead of the name of the practitioner, provided the practitioner includes the name of the health-care practice on the paper or electronic form of the prescription. The act requires any person requesting a subpoena to affirm under penalty of perjury that the subpoena: Is not related to, and any information obtained will not be used in, any investigation or proceeding that seeks to impose civil or criminal liability or professional sanctions against a person or entity that engaged in or attempted or intended to engage in a legally protected health-care activity or that provided insurance coverage for gender-affirming health-care services or reproductive health care; or Is related to such an investigation or proceeding, but the investigation or proceeding is brought under tort law or contract law by the person who engaged in or attempted or intended to engage in a legally protected health-care activity, gender-affirming health-care services, or reproductive health care, and is actionable in an equivalent or similar manner under Colorado law. If a person or entity brings an out-of-state civil or criminal action, or attempts to enforce any order or judgment issued in connection with an action, against another person or entity for engaging in or attempting or intending to engage in a legally protected health-care activity or for providing insurance coverage for gender-affirming health-care services or reproductive health care, the person or entity subject to the out-of-state civil or criminal action has a private right of action against the person or entity and may institute a civil action in district court within 6 years after the date the out-of-state action is commenced or enforcement is attempted. Current law authorizes a private person to arrest a person without a warrant upon reasonable information that the person is charged in another state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. The act creates an exception if the person is charged in another state for engaging in a legally protected health-care activity in Colorado. Current law prohibits a public agency from expending government resources or providing information or data in furtherance of any out-of-state investigation or proceeding seeking to impose civil or criminal liability or professional sanction upon a person or entity for engaging in a legally protected health-care activity. The act expands the prohibition to include public entities, which include state and local governments, and a person or entity licensed or regulated by the state. The act grants the attorney general the authority to enforce the provisions of the act. The act prohibits the department of public health and environment (CDPHE) from collecting a patient's name, date of birth, address, employer, spouse's name, or parent's or legal guardian's name, or the city or town where the termination of pregnancy occurred, as part of any required reporting of induced terminations of pregnancy. Reports of induced terminations of pregnancy collected by CDPHE must only be used for compilation of statistical reports, must not be incorporated into the official records of the office of the state registrar of vital statistics, and are confidential. The state registrar is required to dispose of any reports of induced terminations of pregnancy when all statistical processing of the reports is complete. A person who releases or discloses confidential information related to reporting of induced terminations of pregnancy commits a data privacy breach. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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