Colorado § 12-230-401 - Grounds for discipline.

§ 12-230-401. Grounds for discipline.

(1) The following acts constitute grounds for discipline:

(a) Making a false or misleading statement or omission in an application for licensure;

(b) Violating any provision of this article 230, an applicable provision of article 20 or 30 of this title 12, a rule promulgated by the director under this article 230, or an order issued by the director under this article 230;

(c) Using false or misleading advertising;

(d) Representing that the service or advice of a person licensed to practice medicine will be used or made available in the selection, fitting, adjustment, maintenance, or repair of hearing aids when that is not true or using the terms "doctor", "clinic", "state-licensed clinic", "state-registered", "state-certified", "state-approved", or any other term, abbreviation, or symbol when it would give the false impression that service is being provided by persons trained in medicine or that the licensee's service has been recommended by the state when that is not the case, or when it would be false or misleading;

(e) Directly or indirectly giving or offering to give money or anything of value to any person who advises another in a professional capacity as an inducement to influence the person or have the person influence others to purchase or contract to purchase products sold or offered for sale by a licensee or influencing persons to refrain from dealing in the products of competitors;

(f) Employing a device, a scheme, or artifice with the intent to defraud a purchaser of a hearing aid;

(g) Selling a hearing aid to a child under eighteen years of age without receiving documentation that the child has been examined by a licensed physician and an audiologist within six months prior to the fitting;

(h) Intentionally disposing of, concealing, diverting, converting, or otherwise failing to account for any funds or assets of a purchaser of a hearing aid that is under the applicant's, licensee's, or apprentice's control;

(i) Making a false or misleading statement of fact concerning goods or services or the buyer's right to cancel with the intention or effect of deterring or preventing the buyer from exercising the buyer's right to cancel, or refusing to honor a buyer's request to cancel a contract for the purchase of a hearing aid, if the request was made during the rescission period set forth in section 6-1-701 (2)(e);

(j) Charging, collecting, or recovering any cost or fee for any good or service that has been represented by the licensee as free;

(k) Failing to adequately supervise a licensed hearing aid provider apprentice or any employee pursuant to section 12-230-103 (4) or 12-230-204 (2);

(l) Employing a sales agent or employee who violates any provision of this article 230, a rule promulgated by the director under this article 230, or an order issued by the director under this article 230;

(m) Failing to comply with a stipulation or agreement made with the director or with a final agency order;

(n) Failing to respond in an honest, materially responsive, and timely manner to a complaint issued pursuant to this article 230;

(o) Being convicted of, accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, or receipt of a deferred sentence in any court for a felony or for any crime involving fraud, deception, false pretense, theft, misrepresentation, false advertising, or dishonest dealing;

(p) Selling, dispensing, adjusting, providing training or teaching in regard to, or otherwise servicing surgically implanted hearing devices unless the hearing aid provider is an audiologist or a physician;

(q) Violating the "Colorado Consumer Protection Act", article 1 of title 6; and

(r) Failing to practice according to commonly accepted professional standards.

(2) Any disciplinary action taken by another state, a local jurisdiction, or the federal government against an applicant or licensee constitutes prima facie evidence of grounds for disciplinary action, including denial of a license under this article 230; except that this subsection (2) applies only to discipline for acts or omissions that are substantially similar to those set out as grounds for disciplinary action under this section.

Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1154, § 1, effective October 1. L. 2020: (1)(k), (1)(p), and (1)(q) amended and (1)(r) and (2) added, (HB 20-1218), ch. 299, p. 1486, § 10, effective September 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 12-5.5-401 as it existed prior to 2019.

PART 5

DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES