Dr. Vicente Resto, Senior Vice President and Chief Physician Executive, and Brad Willbanks, Associate Vice President and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer, shared the following message with UTMB providers:
The Drug Enforcement Administration has published a second temporary rule about prescribing schedule II-V drugs.
This second extension, issued shortly after DEA’s listening session on a potential new Telemedicine Special Registration, gives practitioners and patients certainty of the DEA requirements for telemedicine prescribing through the end of 2024.
Without this Second Temporary Rule, COVID-19 telemedicine flexibilities would expire on November 11, 2023, with respect to practitioner-patient relationships established after that date. This Second Temporary Rule – entitled “Second Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications” – continues the temporary extension of the “full set” of DEA’s COVID-19 waivers for prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine. Those waivers, which have been in place since March 2020, are now extended through December 31, 2024.
Please note that a practitioner is only authorized to issue prescriptions for controlled substances pursuant to paragraphs paragraphs (c) or (d) of this section if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The prescription is issued for a legitimate medical purpose by a practitioner acting in the usual course of professional practice;
(2) The prescription is issued pursuant to a communication between a practitioner and a patient using an interactive telecommunications system referred to in 42 CFR 410.78(a)(3);
(3) The practitioner is:
(i) Authorized under their registration under 21 CFR 1301.13(e)(1)(iv))(1)(iv) to prescribe the basic class of controlled substance specified on the prescription; or
(ii) Exempt from obtaining a registration to dispense controlled substances under 21 U.S.C. 822(d); and
(4) The prescription is consistent with all other requirements of 21 CFR part 1306.
Should you have any questions about this rule, please reach out to the Office of Institutional Compliance. Additionally, please note that if a practitioner intends to order prescriptions for patients located out of the State of Texas, that many other rules and processes come into play and any such practice should be reviewed by the Office of Institutional Compliance before engaging in such a practice. Please note that all State of Texas prescribing limitations remain unchanged.
Thank you for helping to ensure that UTMB is compliant in its telemedicine practices as we strive to meet our patients’ needs. We appreciate your attention to this update.