Congress seems unlikely to relax the rules for prescribing Suboxone (buprenorphine), a drug that helps addicts kick opioids, so the Biden administration plans to do it at least temporarily: by regulation, under the powers it has under the public-health emergency for the Covid-19 pandemic.
A White House official told Inside Telehealth that the administration will seek public comment “hopefully very soon” on its plan to allow Suboxone to be prescribed via telemedicine, "as stakeholders appear to face an uphill battle in getting Congress to extend a COVID-19 pandemic waiver of . . . in-person prescribing requirements for controlled substances," Cara Smith reports.
"Beth Connolly, assistant director of public health at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said . . . Wednesday evening that the administration is making the move to prevent people from losing access to the drug used to treat opioid use disorder."
The administration has suggested congressional action might be needed "to allow controlled substances to be prescribed via telehealth, lobbyists and research organizations have said it is within the Drug Enforcement Administration’s regulatory power," Smith reports. "A temporary waiver of the in-person prescribing requirements for controlled substances that was put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic expires when the public health emergency ends, expected to be in mid-April," though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "will reimburse for audio-only initiation of buprenorphine through the end of 2023."
The administration may face internal resistance from the DEA. Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services began allowing most medical providers to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid-use disorder without having to obtain special training, but the DEA's aggressive tactics against pharmacies suspected of improperly dispensing the drug may dissuade stores from carrying it, making prescription filling more difficult.
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