On March 1, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a proposed rule, “Telemedicine Prescribing of Controlled Substances When the Practitioner and the Patient Have Not Had a Prior In-Person Medical Evaluation.” This proposal liberalizes prescribing of controlled substances compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic while restricting some flexibilities currently in place. In most cases, it requires individuals to be evaluated in person by the prescribing physician (after an initial prescription of up to 30 days) in order to retain access to non-narcotic controlled substances in schedules III-V. For schedule II substances an in-person visit is required before the first prescription. Older people and people with disabilities who rely on controlled substances to treat chronic conditions may want to comment on the use of telemedicine.
Public comments can be submitted online through 11:59pm ET Friday, March 31, 2023.