Telehealth Groups Urge Congress, White House To Extend Controlled Substance Virtual Prescribing

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Dive Brief:

• More than 300 telehealth and provider organizations are urging Congress and the Biden administration to extend pandemic-era virtual prescribing flexibilities for controlled substances before they expire at the end of the year.
• In letters sent to Congressional leaders Tuesday, the groups asked lawmakers to pass a two-year extension of the flexibilities, which allowed clinicians to prescribe some controlled substances via telehealth without an in-person evaluation. The organizations, who want the extension included in an end-of-year legislative package, also pushed the White House to work with the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to avoid an expiration of the telehealth prescribing changes.
• The groups argue the window for proposing a new rule is rapidly closing, and an extension would give regulators more time to figure out how to balance access to care and drug enforcement.

Dive Insight: 

Telehealth groups have been pushing regulators for months to release a new virtual prescribing proposal as a year-end deadline for the pandemic-era policy looms.

The prescribing flexibilities aimed to preserve access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were originally slated to expire at the end of the public health emergency in May last year, but the flexibilities have now been extended twice. 

Nearly a year ago, the DEA and the HHS said they would leave the flexibilities in place through 2024 after receiving thousands of public comments expressing concern about a proposal that would have added more prescribing limitations. At the time, the agency said it would work to write new regulations by fall this year. 

Now, telehealth and provider groups fear the DEA could “dramatically limit” virtual prescribing by allowing the flexibilities to expire at the end of the year.

The groups also worry about new restrictive regulation. In August, Politico Pro reported the DEA was planning to propose significant restrictions to telehealth prescribing, citing a former agency official familiar with the proposal. 

“This is a predictable and preventable crisis that is looming come January 1 and we are quickly running out of time to save countless patients from being abandoned, left without lifesaving clinically appropriate care,” Kyle Zebley, senior vice president for public policy at the American Telemedicine Association and executive director of its advocacy organization ATA Action, said in a statement.

Telehealth use soared during the pandemic, boosted in part by regulations that aimed to help providers quickly shift to virtual care. 

Advocates argue the prescribing flexibilities were a lifeline for people who needed medications during the pandemic, and some research has shown telehealth can increase access to mental healthcare or medications for opioid use disorder. 

But illegally distributing prescription drugs is also a concern for regulators. This summer, two leaders of digital health company Done were arrested for allegedly improperly dispensing the ADHD medication Adderall and other stimulants.