Office of Sen.

Mike Johnston
Colorado General Assembly | 200 E. Colfax Avenue | Denver, CO 80203 | 303.866.4864

FACT SHEET MEMORANDUM

SB 12-161 Reduce Health Care Costs in Correctional Facilities Rep. Bradford & Sen. Nicholson Staff Name: Quinn Girrens What the Bill Does: The bill allows for correctional facilities in Colorado to donate unused medical supplies to be distributed to another patient, a non-profit entity that has legal authority to possess the supplies, or a practitioner.1 Colorado Context: Current statute allows for unused medical supplies (including medical devices and medications) to be donated by patients (or those caring for them) to pharmacist within a licensed facility (i.e. hospital, health center, treatment unit, hospice, nursing care, etc.) to then be distributed to another needy patient or non-profit that has legal authority to use the medical supplies.2 There is no liability transposed to the distributor or drug manufacturer for these donations.3 National Context: Nearly every state (39 states with some enacted and/or operational program and 4 additional states with restricted purpose programs or policies)4 has medical supply donation legislation, however, only Michigan (adopted in 2004), New Mexico (adopted in 2009), and Pennsylvania (adopted in 2010) allow for the Department of Corrections to participate in the medical supplies donation program.5 Bill Provisions: Allows correctional facilities to donate unused medical supplies to a pharmacist within the correctional facility or to a drug outlet for redistribution to either another patient, non-profit entity with legal authority to possess the medical supplies, or a practitioner.6 Fiscal Impact: There is no fiscal impact associated with this legislation at this time.

1 2

SB 12-161 C.R.S. 12-22-133 3 Id. 4 State Prescription Drug Return, Reuse, and Recycling Laws; National Conference of State Legislatures (Nov. 2009), http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/state-prescription-drug-return-reuse-and-recyclin.aspx. 5 Id. 6 SB12-161

DRAFT 3/27/2012 9:24 PM

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