Colorado Healthcare Compliance.
Colorado pairs one of the strictest general breach-notification windows in the country (30 days) with the Colorado Privacy Act, which classifies health data as sensitive consumer data requiring opt-in consent — but only for data outside HIPAA's PHI scope. Healthcare practices meet HIPAA plus the 30-day window and need to think about CPA scope for any consumer-health or marketing-side data flows.
At a glance
30days
Colorado Consumer Protection Act § 6-1-716 requires notice in the most expedient time possible and no later than 30 days after determining a breach occurred. AG notice required if >500 Colorado residents affected.
Colorado Attorney General
- Colorado Data Breach Notification StatuteColo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-716
30-day individual notice; AG notice when >500 residents affected; covers medical and biometric data.
- Colorado Privacy Act (CPA)Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 6-1-1301 to 6-1-1313
Consumer privacy regime with sensitive-data category that includes health information. HIPAA-covered PHI is exempt.
- HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules45 CFR Parts 160 & 164
The federal baseline that all U.S. covered entities and business associates meet. HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces.
How Colorado goes further than HIPAA.
The breach window in Colorado is 30 days — shorter than HIPAA’s federal 60-day individual-notice deadline. Practices serving Colorado residents need a breach playbook tuned to the state clock, not the federal one. Notice flows through Colorado Attorney General in addition to HHS/OCR federally.
Related compliance guides
Turn this overlay into a defensible SRA.
Colorado's overlay layers on top of HIPAA's federal floor. The free SRA readiness check walks a small practice through discovery, threat model, controls, and gap analysis, then assembles the review-ready binder — policies, training logs, BAAs, and a breach playbook tuned to the 30-day clock and the Colorado Attorney General notification path.
D3rx is a healthcare-billing and compliance research aid maintained by D3rx Inc. Articles are drafted by an LLM (Anthropic Claude) against primary HHS, OCR, CMS, eCFR, NIST, and state-regulator publications, and reviewed for restraint and source fidelity by the D3rx team.
Reviewer status: a named credentialed reviewer (CHC, CHPC, or healthcare attorney) is being engaged. Until that engagement is finalized, this page does not claim credentialed review.
Related across the archive
- ComplianceColorado Privacy Act for Medical Practices: Where It Stacks on HIPAAColorado Privacy Act (C.R.S. § 6-1-1301 et seq.) vs HIPAA: narrow health-data carve-out, AG-only enforcement, $20k per-violation cap, and CRS § 6-1-716 30-day breach window.
- ComplianceHIPAA Breach Notification: The 60-Day Window Step-by-StepFrom discovery you have 60 calendar days to notify individuals, HHS, and possibly media. Here is the procedure that actually protects the practice.
- RegulationCalifornia Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA, Cal. Civ. Code 56-56.37)California state law providing broader patient confidentiality protections than HIPAA for medical information held by providers, contractors, and certain employers.
- RegulationColorado Privacy Act (CPA, C.R.S. § 6-1-1301 et seq.)Colorado comprehensive consumer privacy law with consumer rights, controller/processor obligations, universal opt-out mechanism requirement, and an AG enforcement framework with HIPAA carve-outs.
- RegulationConnecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA, Public Act 22-15)Connecticut comprehensive consumer data privacy law with consumer rights, controller/processor obligations, and an AG enforcement framework — with substantial healthcare carve-outs.
- RegulationFlorida Information Protection Act (FIPA, Fla. Stat. § 501.171)Florida data breach notification and information security law requiring covered entities to maintain reasonable security and to notify affected individuals and the AG of breaches within 30 days.
- RegulationIllinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA, 740 ILCS 14)Illinois state law regulating the collection, retention, use, and destruction of biometric identifiers, with a private right of action and statutory damages per violation.
- RegulationMassachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 (Standards for the Protection of Personal Information)Massachusetts data security regulation requiring a written information security program (WISP) protecting personal information of MA residents, with specific technical requirements.
Last reviewed May 23, 2026.
This page is a research aid for compliance teams. It does not certify compliance with any state or federal law, provide legal advice, replace counsel, or guarantee an audit outcome. State statutes are amended frequently — verify citations and links against the cited primary sources before acting. The practice remains responsible for adopting and maintaining its compliance program.