As used in the Pain Relief Act:

A. "accepted guideline" means the most current clinical pain management guideline developed by the American geriatrics society or the American pain society or a clinical pain management guideline based on evidence and expert opinion that has been accepted by the New Mexico medical board;

B. "acute pain" means the normal, predicted physiological response to a noxious chemical or thermal or mechanical stimulus, typically associated with invasive procedures, trauma or disease and generally time-limited;

C. "board" means the licensing board of a health care provider;

D. "chronic pain" means pain that persists after reasonable medical efforts have been made to relieve the pain or its cause and that continues, either continuously or episodically, for longer than three consecutive months. "Chronic pain" does not include pain associated with a terminal condition or with a progressive disease that, in the normal course of progression, may reasonably be expected to result in a terminal condition;

E. "clinical expert" means a person who by reason of specialized education or substantial relevant experience in pain management has knowledge regarding current standards, practices and guidelines;

F. "disciplinary action" means any formal action taken by a board against a health care provider, upon a finding of probable cause that the health care provider has engaged in conduct that violates the board's practice act;

G. "health care provider" means a person who is licensed or otherwise authorized by law to provide health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of the person's profession and who has prescriptive authority within the limits of the person's license;

H. "opioid analgesic" means buprenorphine, butorphanol, codeine, hydrocodone, hydromorphine, levorphanol, meperidine, methadone, morphine, nalbuphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, pentazocine and propoxyphene as well as their brand names, isomers and combinations;

I. "opioid antagonist" means a drug approved by the federal food and drug administration that when administered negates or neutralizes in whole or in part the pharmacological effects of an opioid analgesic in the body, including naloxone and such other medications approved by the board of pharmacy for the reversal of opioid analgesic overdoses;

J. "pain" means acute and chronic pain; and

K. "therapeutic purpose" means the use of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical medical treatment that conforms substantially to accepted guidelines for pain management.

History: Laws 1999, ch. 126, § 2; 2005, ch. 140, § 1; 2012, ch. 41, § 1; 2019, ch. 94, § 2.

The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, defined "opioid analgesic" and "opioid antagonist" as used in the Pain Relief Act; and added new Subsections H and I and redesignated former Subsections H and I as Subsections J and K, respectively.

The 2012 amendment, effective May 16, 2012, redefined "accepted guideline"; defined "acute pain" and "chronic pain"; redefined "pain"; in Subsection A, after "means", deleted the former definition, which defined "accepted guideline" as a practice guideline developed by a national organization, society or governmental agency and added the current language; added a new Subsection B; relettered former Subsection B as new Subsection C; added a new Subsection D and relettered the succeeding subsections accordingly; in Subsection F, after "violates the", deleted "provider's respective"; and in Subsection H, after the word "means", deleted the former definition, which defined "pain" as serious bodily discomfort that required the services of a health care provider to alleviate and added the existing language.

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, defined "accepted guideline" in Subsection A to include a guideline developed by a national joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations and other boards of health care providers with prescriptive authority; defined "disciplinary action" in Subsection D, to mean a violation of the health care provider's respective board's practice act; deleted the definition of "intractable pain" in former Subsection F and added a definition of "pain" in subsection to mean a condition of bodily sensation of serious physical discomfort that requires health care provider service to alleviate.