Community colleges and occupational education - earned construction industry registered apprenticeship program credit - transfer to college credit - working group - appropriation. The chief administrative officer of the Colorado community college system, or his or her designee, is required to convene a working group to determine the most efficient and appropriate manner in which to facilitate the transfer of earned construction industry registered apprenticeship program credit to college credit. If possible, the chief administrative officer is required to include representatives from varying community colleges, area technical schools, local district colleges, relevant 4-year institutions that grant bachelor degrees, applicable union and nonunion labor organizations, and other interested parties. The working group will meet during the interim following the first regular session of the seventy-second general assembly and is required to consider specified issues, solicit input from subject matter experts, and submit to the general assembly its recommendations for the most efficient and appropriate manner in which to facilitate the transfer of earned construction industry registered apprenticeship program credit to college credit, including any recommendations for necessary legislation. The money appropriated for purposes of the working group is exempt from the matching requirement for student financial assistance. In addition, the department of higher education is required to enter into a fee-for-service contract for the purposes of the working group. For the 2019-20 state fiscal year, $15,000 is appropriated to the department of higher education from the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
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Prescription drugs - Canadian prescription drug importation program - federal approval - eligible importers and suppliers - eligible prescription drugs - distribution requirements - reports - rules - appropriations. The act creates the "Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Program" (program) in the department of health care policy and financing (department). On or before September 1, 2020, the department shall submit a request to the United States secretary of health and human services for approval of the program. The department shall begin operating the program not later than 6 months after receiving such approval. The department may expend money for the purpose of requesting approval of the program, but the department cannot spend any other money to implement the program until the department receives approval of the program. Upon receiving approval of the program, the department shall contract with 1 or more vendors to provide services under the program. Each vendor, in consultation with the department and any other vendors, shall establish a wholesale prescription drug importation list (importation list) that identifies the prescription drugs that have the highest potential for cost savings to the state. Each vendor shall revise the list at least annually and at the direction of the department. The department shall review the importation list at least every 3 months to ensure that it continues to meet the requirements of the program. The department may direct a vendor to revise the list, as necessary. Each vendor shall: Identify, in consultation with the department, Canadian suppliers who are in full compliance with relevant Canadian federal and provincial laws and regulations and who have agreed to export prescription drugs identified on the importation list; Verify that such Canadian suppliers meet the requirements of the program and will export prescription drugs at prices that provide cost savings to the state; Contract with such eligible Canadian suppliers, or facilitate contracts between eligible importers and Canadian suppliers, to import prescription drugs under the program; Assist the department in developing and administering a distribution program within the program; Assist the department with the preparation of an annual report and provide any information requested by the department for the report; Ensure the safety and quality of drugs imported under the program; Maintain a list of all eligible importers that participate in the program; Ensure compliance with the federal "Drug Quality and Security Act" by all Canadian suppliers, eligible importers, distributors, and other participants in the program; Provide an annual financial audit of its operations to the department; Provide to the department quarterly financial reports specific to the program, which reports must include information concerning the performance of the vendor's subcontractors and vendors; Submit evidence of a surety bond in an amount of at least $25,000 with any bid or initial contract negotiation documents and maintain documentation of evidence of the surety bond with the department throughout the contract term; and Maintain the information and documentation submitted to the department for at least 7 years. The act imposes certain requirements for drugs that are imported under the program, and the act prohibits certain drugs from being imported under the program. The act states that the following entities are eligible importers under the program: A pharmacist or wholesaler employed by or under contract with a medicaid pharmacy, for dispensing to the pharmacy's medicaid recipients; A pharmacist or wholesaler employed by or under contract with the department of corrections, for dispensing to inmates in the custody of the department of corrections; Commercial plans, as defined by rules promulgated by the medical services board and as approved by the federal government; and A licensed Colorado pharmacist or wholesaler approved by the department. An eligible importer may import a prescription drug from a Canadian supplier if: The drug meets federal food and drug administration standards and is not a controlled substance, biological product, infused or intravenously injected drug, a drug that is inhaled during surgery, or a parenteral drug deemed a threat to public health; and Importing the drug is expected to generate cost savings and would not violate federal patent laws. The act requires the department to designate an office or division that must be a licensed pharmaceutical wholesaler or that shall contract with a licensed pharmaceutical wholesaler. The designated office shall: Set a maximum profit margin so that a wholesaler, distributor, pharmacy, or other licensed provider participating in the program maintains a profit margin that is no greater than the profit margin that the wholesaler, distributor, pharmacy, or other licensed provider would have earned on the equivalent nonimported drug; Exclude generic products if the importation of the products would violate United States patent laws applicable to United States-branded products; Comply with certain federal requirements concerning drug quality and security; and Determine a method for covering the administrative costs of the program. Each participating eligible importer and Canadian supplier shall submit to the vendor specified information about each drug to be acquired by the importer or to be supplied by the Canadian supplier under the program. The department shall immediately suspend the importation of a specific drug or the importation of drugs by a specific eligible importer if it discovers that any drug or activity is in violation of the act or any federal or state law or regulation. The department may revoke the suspension if, after conducting an investigation, it determines that the public is adequately protected from counterfeit or unsafe drugs being imported into this state. The executive director of the department shall promulgate rules as necessary for the administration of the program. The department shall approve a method of financing the administrative costs of the program, which method may include imposing a fee on each prescription pharmaceutical product sold through the program or any other appropriate method determined by the department to finance administrative costs. The department shall not require a fee in an amount that the department determines would significantly reduce consumer savings. On or before December 1, 2021, and on or before December 1 each year thereafter, the department shall submit a report to the governor, the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives concerning the operation of the program during the previous fiscal year. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, the act appropriates $1,041,802 to the department to implement the act, $134,719 of which is reappropriated to the department of law to provide legal services to the department. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Drug manufacturer, representative, agent, or employee - prescription drug marketing - disclosure of drug information required. The act requires a drug manufacturer, or a representative, agent, or employee of the manufacturer, who while employed by or under contract to represent a manufacturer engages in prescription drug marketing, to provide to a prescriber, in writing, the wholesale acquisition cost of a prescription drug when, in the course of conducting business, the manufacturer, representative, agent, or employee provides information concerning the drug to the prescriber. The act also requires the drug manufacturer, or a representative, agent, or employee of the manufacturer, to also disseminate the names of at least 3 generic prescription drugs from the same therapeutic class, or if 3 are not available, as many as are available for prescriptive use. Specified provisions of the act are contingent upon House Bill 19-1172 becoming law. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More
Section 1 of the bill enacts the "Colorado Prescription Drug Cost Reduction Act of 2019", which requires: Health insurers, starting in 2020, to submit to the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) information regarding prescription drugs covered under their health insurance plans that the plan paid for in the preceding calendar year, including information about rebates received from prescription drug manufacturers, a certification regarding how rebates were accounted for in insurance premiums, and a list of all pharmacy benefit management firms (PBMs) with whom they contract; Prescription drug manufacturers to notify the commissioner, state purchasers, health insurers, and PBMs when the manufacturer, on or after January 1, 2020, increases the price of certain prescription drugs by more than specified amounts or introduces a new specialty drug in the commercial market; Prescription drug manufacturers, within 15 days after the end of each calendar quarter that starts on or after January 1, 2020, to provide specified information to the commissioner regarding the drugs about which the manufacturer notified purchasers; Health insurers or, if applicable, PBMs to annually report specified information to the commissioner regarding rebates and administrative fees received from manufacturers for prescription drugs for which they received the required notice from a manufacturer; and Certain nonprofit organizations to compile and submit to the commissioner an annual report indicating the amount of each payment, donation, subsidy, or thing of value received by the nonprofit organization or its executive director, chief operating officer, board of directors, or any member of the board of directors from a prescription drug manufacturer, PBM, or health insurer and the percentage of the nonprofit organization's total gross income that is attributable to those payments, donations, subsidies, or things of value. The commissioner is required to post the information received from health insurers, prescription drug manufacturers, PBMs, and nonprofit organizations on the division of insurance's website, excluding any information that is proprietary. Additionally, the commissioner, or a disinterested third-party contractor, is to analyze the data reported by health insurers, prescription drug manufacturers, PBMs, and nonprofit organizations and other relevant information to determine the effect of prescription drug costs on health insurance premiums. The commissioner is to publish a report each year, submit the report to the governor and specified legislative committees, and present the report during annual "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearings. The commissioner is authorized to adopt rules as necessary to implement the requirements of the bill. Section 2 prohibits PBMs from retroactively reducing payment on a clean claim submitted by a pharmacy unless the PBM determines, through an audit conducted in accordance with state law, that the claim was not a clean claim. Health insurers that contract with PBMs must ensure that the PBMs are complying with this prohibition and the reporting requirements and are subject to penalties for failure to do so. Section 3 requires a carrier to reduce the cost sharing a covered person is required to pay for prescription drugs by an amount equal to the greater of 51% of the average aggregate rebates received by the carrier for all prescription drugs, including price protection rebates, or an amount that ensures cost sharing will not exceed 125% of the carrier's cost for the prescription drug. Under sections 5 and 6 , a prescription drug manufacturer that fails to notify purchasers or fails to report required data to the commissioner is subject to discipline by the state board of pharmacy, including a penalty of up to $10,000 per day for each day the manufacturer fails to comply with the notice or reporting requirements. The commissioner is to report manufacturer violations to the state board of pharmacy. Additionally, health insurers that fail to report the required data are subject to a fine of up to $10,000 per day. Sections 7 and 8 of the bill make conforming amendments necessary to harmonize the bill with the title 12 recodification bill, House Bill 19-1172.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More
The bill exempts a person's primary residence from attachment or execution of a lien as the result of a judgment for medical debt. A person recording a transcript of judgment must record an affidavit with the transcript stating that the signer is an authorized agent of the judgment creditor and whether the judgment is for medical debt. A judgment debtor may record an affidavit with the county stating the debtor's name, a description of the debtor's interest in the property, and that the property is the debtor's primary residence. A primary residence is defined as a person's dwelling place and includes the dwelling, the lot or lots on which the dwelling is situated, including a farm of any number of acres, and any appurtenances. The bill takes effect on January 1, 2020, and applies to judgments entered on or after that date. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More