Warner Again Presses DEA to Let Providers Prescribe via Telehealth

Virginia Senator Mark Warner is once again urging the federal government to fulfill a long-delayed plan to allow healthcare providers to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth.

In a letter sent this week to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Chris Evans, the Virginia Democrat pressed the DEA to create a registration process for providers who want to use connected health channels to prescribe medications used in substance abuse treatment.

Providers are prevented from prescribing controlled substances via telehealth by the Ryan Haight Act of 2008, which – among many things - mandates an in-person exam before any telehealth service. But that bill also allows the DEA to create a special registration so that providers can use telehealth.

Warner and many telehealth advocates have long lobbied the DEA to follow through on that process – which was also mandated in the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act of 2018.

Some of the restrictions tied to telehealth use have been eased in emergency measures enacted to address the coronavirus pandemic. But those freedoms will end with the public health emergency, and the DEA has yet to act on the request for the special registration.

“I am very concerned that – despite repeated outreach from myself and others in Congress – the previous Administration did not take long-term action to address this issue,” Warner said in his letter, referencing a similar letter he sent to the Trump Administration in 2020. “I also recognize that much of this delay has been the result of previous Administrations and I hope to work with you all on a new approach that best serves patients.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the importance of increased access to telehealth services and providers across the country continue to be frustrated there is no long-term solution for them to provide adequate care to their patients,” Warner wrote. “The DEA’s failure to promulgate the rule has meant that – despite Congress’ best efforts – millions of patients could be left without access to long-term treatment via telehealth.”

“In practice, the DEA’s failure to address this issue means that a vast majority of health care providers that use telehealth to prescribe controlled substances to and otherwise treat their patients have been deterred in getting them the quality care they need,” he added. “These restrictions have been temporarily waived during the COVID-19 public health emergency, and I welcome that, but patients and providers need a more permanent and long-term solution to this long-delayed rulemaking.”

The Senator has a lot of support behind him on this. Last October, more than 80 organizations, including the Alliance for Connected Care, American Telemedicine Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans, signed a letter asking then-DEA Administrator Timothy Shea to take action.

“Our experience during COVID-19 has demonstrated the value of increased access to telemedicine to enable all qualified providers, including Community Mental Health Centers and addiction treatment facilities, to prescribe Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) to patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD),” that letter states.

Mental health and substance abuse care providers see telehealth as a critical tool to address the nation’s substance abuse epidemic, which had been growing before COVID-19 and has taken off since then. Providers need to be able to use virtual visits and mHealth tools – including ePrescribing – to expand access to care for people who can’t or won’t attend in-person treatments.