Dive Brief:
- The Drug Enforcement Administration and the HHS are extending flexibilities for providers prescribing controlled substances via telehealth for another year, the agencies said Friday.
- The temporary extension marks the third time regulators have prolonged the pandemic-era flexibilities, which allow providers to prescribe some controlled medications, like Adderall for ADHD or drugs to treat opioid use disorder, without first conducting an in-person evaluation.
- Telehealth groups applauded the temporary rule. Advocates had been concerned regulators might miss a year-end deadline to extend the flexibilities again or propose more stringent prescribing rules.
Dive Insight:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, regulators granted exceptions to a law that typically required clinicians to have an in-person appointment with a patient before prescribing controlled substances in a bid to preserve access to care.
Those flexibilities were initially set to expire along with the pandemic public health emergency in May last year. But regulators extended the changes until November 2023, and then prolonged them again through the end of 2024.
The latest extension, which will keep the flexibilities in place until the end of 2025, will prevent patients from losing access to medications prescribed virtually, especially key for drugs like buprenorphine that treat opioid use disorder, regulators wrote in the rule.
The rule didn’t say when a permanent regulation could be proposed. However, regulators said the extension will give clinicians time to adjust to future regulations.
The rule also said the relatively short time window until the temporary extension expires should avoid incentivizing new telehealth companies that might allow for “problematic” prescribing practices, the DEA and HHS added.
Regulators are already concerned about some providers illegally distributing prescription drugs. Earlier this month, Cerebral, a virtual mental health firm, agreed to pay a fine of more than $3.6 million for allegedly attempting to boost prescriptions of Adderall and other controlled substances. And this summer, executives at telehealth company Done were arrested for allegedly facilitating easy access to Adderall and instructing providers to prescribe the drugs even if the patient didn’t qualify.
Still, telehealth proponents argue there are significant benefits to controlled substance prescribing via telehealth, including for patients who live in remote rural areas or those who lack transportation.
Easier access to drugs like buprenorphine are also key to driving down opioid overdose deaths, proponents and lawmakers argue.
“We are pleased to see the DEA act to ensure patient care is not interrupted next month,” Chris Adamec, executive director of the Alliance for Connected Care, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Trump Administration next year to finish the work they started in 2020 through a permanent rulemaking that creates access to comprehensive medical care, including a controlled substance when necessary, through telemedicine.”
