What are the news: Physicians can continue to prescribe controlled substances based on telehealth patient visits after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) extended this regulatory flexibility through December 31, 2024.
The AMA is grateful that the DEA recognizes that patients treated with these medications, including medications to treat opioid use disorder, often have difficulty obtaining and attending appointments in person, and that the agency is committed to avoiding errors in their care, the AMA said. President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH.
At a DEA listening session earlier this fall, Dr. Ehrenfeld urged the DEA to adopt a federal policy on prescribing controlled substances based on telehealth visits that will continue to support patient access to evidence-based care. In his remarks (PDF), Dr. Ehrenfeld also encouraged the DEA to refrain from imposing new barriers that could reverse improvements made to patient access during the COVID-19 public health emergency, which expired earlier this year.
After the expansions were announced, Dr. Ehrenfeld said the AMA would continue to encourage the DEA, as it revises the rules, to provide an appropriate balance between improving patient access to care through the combination of in-person and virtual services that best meets their needs. while ensuring patient safety.
Support for telehealth is a critical part of the AMA’s recovery plan for physicians in the Americas.
Telehealth is essential to the future of health care, which is why the AMA continues to lead the charge to aggressively expand telehealth policy, research, and resources to ensure practice sustainability doctors and fair payment.
Why it’s important: Experience during the COVID-19 public health emergency has shown that using telemedicine to prescribe controlled substances has helped patients, with or without an in-person assessment, initiate and maintain care necessary and evidence-based for many conditions, including opioid use disorders.
For example, according to a study carried out in 2023 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Telemedicine also allowed patients seeking buprenorphine to begin treatment for opioid use disorder without waiting for an in-person evaluation, according to a 2021 study conducted as part of a 2021 study. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment revealed. In upstate New York, before the public health emergency, the average wait for an in-person visit was 12 weeks. Patients seeking treatment for opioid use disorder, the study authors observed, often must overcome barriers such as lack of transportation or child care.
In his remarks to the DEA, Dr. Ehrenfeld emphasized that whether it is audio-only, audio-visual, or in-person care, physicians provide high-quality, evidence-based care that is based on thorough assessments and sound decision making. He also said safeguards such as state laws and the Controlled Substances Act are already in place to ensure patient safety and prevent diversion.
These remarks add to the AMA’s advocacy to the DEA regarding prescribing buprenorphine via telemedicine (PDF) and prescribing controlled substances via telehealth (PDF) when a physician and patient have not previously had visit in person. A September letter to the DEA from Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., John Thune, R.S.D., and others cited the AMA’s support for protecting the benefits of prescribing controlled substances based on telehealth visits.
Learn more: The AMA believes that science, evidence and compassion must continue to guide patient care and policy change as the nation’s opioid epidemic has become a more dangerous and more dangerous illicit drug overdose epidemic. complex.
Find state- and specialty-specific resources on the AMA’s End the Epidemic website, explore overdose-related data metrics on the AMA’s Overdose Data Dashboard, and learn about physicians inspirational products that help patients suffering from substance use disorders or chronic pain.
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