HB17-1350: Pharmacist Partial Fill Opioid Prescription

• Allows pharmacists to dispense Schedule II opioids in smaller amounts than prescribed if requested by the patient or prescribing practitioner, provided total quantity across all partial fills does not exceed the prescribed amount.

• Requires pharmacists to retain the original prescription at the pharmacy, report partial fills to the prescription drug monitoring program, and notify the prescribing provider that a partial fill occurred.

• Finds that overdose deaths from opioid painkillers outnumbered all homicides in Colorado in 2015, with 259 deaths from prescription opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone.

• Aligns Colorado law with the federal Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016, which permits pharmacists to partially fill controlled substance prescriptions.

• Takes effect August 9, 2017, unless subject to referendum petition, in which case it requires voter approval in November 2018 to take effect.