Evidence status: CURRENT BINDING PROFESSIONAL REGULATION. New Mexico Medical Board Rule 16.10.14.9 requires a written treatment agreement for chronic-pain patients treated with controlled-substance analgesics.

Core agreement requirement

For chronic-pain patients treated with controlled-substance analgesics, the prescribing practitioner must use a written agreement outlining patient responsibilities. As part of that agreement, chronic-pain prescriptions are to come from one practitioner and one pharmacy whenever possible.

Related treatment requirements

  • Physical examination and evaluation of psychological and pain status.
  • Use of appropriate screening tools and consideration of an integrative pain-management approach.
  • A written, individualized treatment plan with stated objectives.
  • Documented discussion of risks and benefits of controlled substances.
  • Complete and accurate treatment and prescribing records.
  • Periodic chronic-pain treatment review at least every six months.
  • Urine drug testing when opioid therapy starts and at least every six months thereafter.

Substance-use-disorder patients

The rule separately states that pain management for patients with substance-use disorders must include a contractual agreement, appropriate consultation, drug screening when other factors suggest elevated misuse or diversion risk, and reevaluation at appropriate intervals at least every six months.

What the rule does not prescribe word-for-word

16.10.14.9 does not publish one mandatory statewide contract form. It does not itself prescribe a universal missed-appointment fee, fixed pill-count response window, cannabis prohibition, no-replacement rule for lost medication, or automatic discharge clause. Those terms must be classified separately when they appear in practice agreements.

Primary sources

Reviewed: October 4, 2026.

Evidence boundary: The regulation requires the written agreement and one-practitioner/one-pharmacy structure whenever possible, but clinic-specific additions remain separate practice terms.