The Hill (10/6, Weixel) reported that on Friday, the Biden Administration “extended flexibilities regarding controlled substances to be prescribed via telemedicine.” The Drug Enforcement Administration “said in a notice it would allow [clinicians] to continue using telemedicine to prescribe certain controlled substances through the end of 2024.”
Psychiatric News (10/6) reported that “earlier this year, the DEA proposed regulations that would curtail telemedicine prescribing flexibilities extended to qualified health professionals during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.” The article added, “APA filed two letters in response to these proposed rules in March, urging that the DEA balance common-sense safeguards for DEA enforcement without decreasing access to lifesaving treatment.” The agency “received more than 38,000 comments on the proposed telemedicine rules and last month held two days of public listening sessions related to those rules.” During the public meeting, APA Committee on Telepsychiatry Chair Shabana Khan, MD, said, “Rather than a mandatory blanket requirement [for an in-person visit], the need for an in-person examination of a patient really should be left to the clinical discretion of a practitioner who has the knowledge, skills, and experience to make that decision. … Reducing flexibility in modalities of care increases inequity, forcing practitioners to cherry-pick patients that have the ability to travel to in-person care.”
Related Links:
— “DEA extends pandemic telehealth rules for prescribing controlled substances,”Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, October 6, 2023