CRNA · Colorado
Supervision Agreement for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists in Colorado
No. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists practice independently here. Colorado does not require one.
'Certified registered nurse anesthetist' is a titled role on the same Advanced Practice Registry as NP/PMHNP/CNM/CNS (§ 12-255-111(2)), so the identical § 12-255-111(5) no-agreement standard governs CRNA practice. A 2015 CO Supreme Court case (Colo. Med. Soc'y v. Hickenlooper) is sometimes cited for CRNA independence, but the court explicitly declined to decide that state-law question — it held only that the Governor's 2010 federal Medicare opt-out attestation carries no legal effect on Colorado law itself. Not relied on here.
What the supervision must look like
The rules the physician relationship has to follow. Each fact comes from the statute or board rule listed under sources.
Proximity
No proximity requirement
No proximity/reachability standard applies, and no physician anesthesia order (of the kind some states require even for otherwise-independent CRNA practice) was found in Colorado statute — only the general § 12-255-111(5) safe-consultation-mechanism standard applies.
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
3 CCR 716-1.15 § E(3) requires CRNA-specific national certification (Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists) as a registry prerequisite, but the 750-hour mentorship pathway to full prescriptive authority is otherwise the same uniform APRN pathway as `np`.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — identical to `np`: no supervising or collaborating physician relationship of any kind is required for CRNA practice, and no anesthesia-specific physician-order requirement (unlike some states' order-based delegation model) was found in Colorado statute or rule.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — Same as the general `np` entry — CRNAs are an APRN role under § 12-255-111(2), so the same § 12-255-104/-111 analysis applies identically.
This ownership analysis does not extend to any service outside this provider's own APRN scope (e.g., delegated medical-aesthetic procedures — see Colorado Medical Board Rule 800, 3 CCR 713-30), which stays physician-controlled regardless of the APRN's own practice-entity ownership.
Legal sources for these rules (4)
- C.R.S. §§ 12-255-104, 12-255-111, 12-255-112 — same APRN framework as `np`secondary
- 3 CCR 716-1.15 § E(3) — CRNA national certification prerequisitesecondary
- Colo. Med. Soc'y v. Hickenlooper, 2015 CO 41 — held the Governor's 2010 federal Medicare-opt-out attestation has no legal effect on Colorado state law; did NOT decide whether CO law itself requires physician supervision of CRNAs (secondary-sourced case summaries — hortyspringer.com, leagle.com/PubMed abstracts — after the primary opinion PDF 403'd/redirected). Cited here only to explain why this file doesn't rely on it, not as a basis for FULL status.secondary
- AANA — Colorado state practice page (secondary; confirms APRN status, doesn't cite Hickenlooper as establishing independence either)secondary
What a supervising physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in Colorado
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Standard-tier state.
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.