DEA Extends COVID-19 Teleprescribing Flexibilities through December 2024

NAHC

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on October 6, 2023 issued a temporary rule extending COVID-19 telemedicine flexibilities for prescribing of controlled medications through December 31, 2024, which is the current date for expiration of other telemedicine-related flexibilities. Prior to issuance of this temporary rule those flexibilities would have expired for new patients on November 11, 2023, and for existing patients on November 11, 2024.

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) submitted comments on the DEA’s proposed expiration of the flexibilities, urging the DEA to extend the COVID-19 prescribing flexibilities through the end of 2024, exempt hospice from any in-person requirements, and develop a registration process for practitioners who prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine encounters. In response to the dramatic outpouring of comments on its earlier notice regarding expiration of the flexibilities, DEA held listening sessions on September 12 and 13 to reopen the conversation and to gather input from various stakeholders. Partly in response to that input, DEA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made the decision to further extend the flexibilities.

As noted in the temporary rule, “In light of the need to further evaluate the best course of action given the comments received in response to the NPRMs and the presentations at the Telemedicine Listening Sessions, DEA, jointly with HHS, is issuing this second temporary rule…extending the full set of telemedicine flexibilities regarding prescription of controlled medications as were in place during the COVID-19 PHE, through December 31, 2024. This extension authorizes all DEA-registered practitioners to prescribe schedule II-V controlled medications via telemedicine through December 31, 2024, whether or not the patient and practitioner established a telemedicine relationship on or before November 11, 2023…The purpose of this Second Temporary Rule, like the one before it, is to ensure a smooth transition for patients and practitioners that have come to rely on the availability of telemedicine for controlled medication prescriptions, as well as allowing adequate time for providers to come into compliance with any new standards or safeguards.  DEA is working to promulgate new standards or safeguards by the fall of 2024.”