Collaborative Practice Agreement · PharmD
Colorado Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement for Pharmacists
Required. The Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement is the written instrument Colorado law names for a Pharmacist working with a physician. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
Represents Colorado's collaborative pharmacy practice tier (C.R.S. §§ 12-280-601–604; 3 CCR 719-1-17.00.00) — a voluntary, written agreement with one or more physicians or APRNs granting protocol-based drug-therapy authority. Pharmacists qualify with a PharmD or ≥5 years' licensed experience (§ 12-280-602). Unlike Texas, the Pharmacy Board's own CDTM rule (fetched directly) confirms no facility-setting restriction (FQHC/hospital-only) applies.
What a Colorado Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement must contain
Governed by the Colorado State Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Pharmacist may enter into a written, voluntary Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement with the Physician, granting the Pharmacist authority to provide evidence-based health-care services to patients pursuant to a specific treatment protocol the Physician delegates, as authorized under Colorado Revised Statutes Title 12, Article 280, Part 6 and Colorado State Board of Pharmacy Rule 17. This Agreement does not create an employer-employee relationship between the Parties solely by virtue of the collaborative pharmacy practice arrangement.
To enter into a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement, the Pharmacist must hold a current, active Colorado pharmacist license, and must have earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree or have completed at least five (5) years of experience as a licensed pharmacist.
- The Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement on file also carries 2 scope, 1 education, 1 registration, 1 authority clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 12-280-601 to 12-280-604 and 3 CCR 719-1, Rule 17 (Collaborative Pharmacy Practice)board guidance
Colorado State Board of Pharmacy's own page describing the collaborative pharmacy practice agreement framework and statewide drug therapy protocols authorized under Title 12, Article 280, Part 6 of the Colorado Revised Statutes and Pharmacy Rule 17.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the agreement has to carry, from the state's supervision rules.
Proximity
Not codified — left to the agreement
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Annually
3 CCR 719-1-17.00.00 (fetched directly): the written collaborative-practice agreement itself 'shall be reviewed annually, and revised, if necessary' — a protocol-review cadence, not a chart-review quota. The same rule also requires 'a process ... for the prescriber and pharmacist to communicate and document changes to the patient's medical record,' but sets no fixed frequency for that beyond the annual agreement review.
Prescriptive authority
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
No confirmation found of Schedule II authority under any Colorado pharmacist collaborative-practice pathway.
Written agreement
Required
Required only for the expanded 'collaborative pharmacy practice' scope tracked here (protocol-based drug therapy management, § 12-280-601 et seq.) — ordinary dispensing under a pharmacist's base license needs no such agreement at all.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — Colorado does not require pharmacy ownership by a licensed pharmacist — a prescription drug outlet need only be under the 'charge' of a designated pharmacist-manager (§ 12-280-118), regardless of who owns the business.
A secondary source (unconfirmed against primary § 12-280 statute text in this pass) described an additional cap limiting a prescriber-owner's interest in a pharmacy to 10% where that prescriber is also employed to dispense — not included above pending verification of the citation.
Legal sources for these rules (5)
- C.R.S. §§ 12-280-601–604 — Collaborative Pharmacy Practicesecondary
- 3 CCR 719-1-17.00.00 — Colorado Board of Pharmacy, Collaborative Pharmacy Practice / Collaborative Drug Therapy Management (CDTM) rulesecondary
- C.R.S. § 12-280-118 — Prescription Drug Outlet Under Charge of Pharmacist
- 3 CCR 719-1, Rule 17 / App. G — Statewide Protocol for Medications for Opioid Use Disordersecondary
- Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations — Pharmacy Prescriptive/Procurement Authority (secondary, DORA reference page)
About Colorado's rules
Colorado is a full-practice-authority state for all five APRN roles (NP/PMHNP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) — no physician agreement is ever required to practice. APRNs instead face a 750-hour prescribing mentorship (not necessarily physician-led) before 'full' (vs. 'provisional') prescriptive authority — a credentialing gate, not a supervision relationship. PAs moved from physician 'supervision' to an hours-gated 'collaborative agreement' under SB23-083 (2023) — not 'HB23-1214,' which could not be located and appears to be a misattribution. Colorado licenses estheticians; it has not deregulated the profession.
Other clinicians in Colorado: see the state overview.