Exciting News! The flexibility to treat opioid and substance use disorder via telemedicine has been extended to December 31, 2025.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) along with Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that the flexibility to treat substance use disorder via telemedicine has been extended once again to December 2025.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, initiating and maintaining patients on controlled substances – including medication for addiction treatment (MAT) such as buprenorphine – was prohibited without in-person evaluations. To improve access to life-saving medication, the DEA and HHS allowed for prescribing flexibilities to ensure patients received the care they needed.
However, healthcare providers quickly noted that these flexibilities were helping to initiate (and maintain) patients in treatment for substance use disorder. Members of the MATTERS team were recently published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment for the comparison of retention in treatment from emergency departments and telemedicine settings (Lynch et al., 2024). This study found that patients who were evaluated for opioid use disorder in telemedicine settings were more likely to attend their initial follow-up appointment (65% vs.32%) and were more likely to be retained in treatment after 30 days (53% vs. 22%).
When asked about what this decision means for the future, MATTERS’ founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joshua Lynch stated, “The extension of telemedicine prescribing guidelines is an important step to ensure patients receive the life-saving medication for addiction treatment needed for substance use disorder. However, this is still a short-term solution. We know that these services improve access to, and retention in, treatment. It is vital that we continue to work together to find a permanent solution to initiating treatment for substance use disorder via telemedicine.“
Sources
American Society of Addiction Medicine (2024, November 15). Biden administration issues third temporary extension of telemedicine flexibilities through December 2025; ASAM urges more decisive action to expand access to lifesaving addiction treatments. Retrieved from: https://www.asam.org/news/detail/2024/11/15/biden-administration-issues-third-temporary-extension-of-telemedicine-flexibilities-through-december-2025–asam-urges-more-decisive-action-to-expand-access-to-lifesaving-addiction-treatments
Lynch, J. J., Payne, E. R., Varughese, R., Kirk, H. M., Kruger, D. J., & Clemency, B. (2024, October). Comparison of 30-day retention in treatment among patients referred to opioid use disorder treatment from emergency department and telemedicine settings. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 165, 209446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2024.209446
United States Drug Enforcement Administration. (2024, November 15). DEA and HHS extend telemedicine flexibilities through 2025. Retrieved from: https://www.dea.gov/documents/2024/2024-11/2024-11-15/dea-and-hhs-extend-telemedicine-flexibilities-through-2025