(1) Every optometrist who provides health-care services within the state of Colorado shall establish financial responsibility as follows: (a) By maintaining commercial professional liability insurance coverage with an insurance company authorized to do business in this state in a minimum indemnity amount of one million dollars per incident and three million dollars annual aggregate per year; or (b) By maintaining a surety bond in a form acceptable to the commissioner of insurance in the amounts set forth in subsection (1)(a) of this section; or (c) By depositing cash or cash equivalents as security with the commissioner of insurance in the amounts set forth in subsection (1)(a) of this section; or (d) By providing any other security acceptable to the commissioner of insurance, which may include approved plans of self-insurance. (2) (a) The board may, by rule, establish lesser financial responsibility standards than those required in subsection (1) of this section for classes of license holders who have an inactive license or who render limited or occasional optometry services because of administrative or other nonclinical duties, partial or complete retirement, or for other reasons that render the limits provided in subsection (1)(a) of this section unreasonable or unattainable. (b) Nothing in this section precludes or otherwise prohibits a licensed optometrist from rendering appropriate patient care on an occasional basis when the circumstances surrounding the need for care so warrant. (3) Each optometrist, as a condition of receiving and maintaining an active license to provide optometry services in this state, shall furnish the board evidence of compliance with subsection (1) of this section. No license shall be issued or renewed unless evidence of compliance has been furnished. (4) Notwithstanding the amounts specified in subsection (1) of this section, if the board receives two or more reports concerning any optometrist pursuant to section 12-275-129 during any one-year period, the minimum financial responsibility requirement shall be two times the amount specified in subsection (1) of this section. However, upon motion filed by the optometrist and the presentation of sufficient evidence to the board that one or more reports involved an action or claim that did not represent any substantial failure to adhere to accepted professional standards of care, the board may reduce the additional amount to that which would be fair and conscionable.
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