HHS Planning Policies To Allow Telemedicine-Based Prescription Of Medication Assisted Treatment

The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to develop policies on telemedicine buprenorphine prescribing for provider organizations and professionals with a DEA waiver under the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) to prescribe buprenorphine. The DEA policies say that DATA 2000 waivered prescribers are exempt from the in-person medical evaluation requirement as a prerequisite to prescribing or otherwise dispensing controlled substances via the internet if the practitioner is engaged in the “practice of telemedicine.”

HHS issued guidance about this effort in September 2018. The guidance referenced a . . .