Innovations-Magazine-October-2022 - 5

POLICY PERSPECTIVES
aide or community health practitioner
would be able to dispense certain narcotic
drugs for maintenance or detoxification
treatment without registering with DEA
if the drug is prescribed by a health
care practitioner through telemedicine,
which would preempt state laws
related to licensure for this activity.
Progress has been made, as the bill
passed in the US House of Representatives
as a part of a broader mental health
package, HR 7666 the Restoring Hope
for Mental Health and Well-Being
Act, this past summer. Though the bill
paves the way for pharmacists to offer
this lifesaving treatment, the Senate
has yet to act to advance it toward
becoming the law of the land.
While DEA oversight of CS is necessary,
it will be important to continue to pair
the need to prevent drug diversion with
the need to increase access to care. As the
policy pendulum rightfully swings in the
direction of curbing opioid prescribing
and dispensing, we cannot overcorrect
and stymie access to opioid medication
needed for pain or desperately needed
OUD treatment. In recent years, following
legal action against pharmacies and
distributors for their role in oversupplying
opioids to patients, many reports of DEA
crackdowns on those entities supplying
high quantities of OUD treatment exist.
However, efforts should be made to ensure
that pharmacies are able to stock and
dispense buprenorphine for medication
treatment without fear of punishment.
Limits on Access to Telehealth
In response to the pandemic, in March
2020, DEA lifted limitations on the use
of telehealth for remote prescribing of
CS for the duration of the public health
emergency (PHE). For the first time,
buprenorphine was able to be prescribed
using telehealth to patients in their
homes without a prior in-person visit.
In August, Centers for Disease Control
" In August, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the National Institutes of Health National Institute
on Drug Abuse, and the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services jointly found that increased use
of telehealth for OUD services during the pandemic
was associated with reduced risk of overdose. "
and Prevention, the National Institutes of
Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse,
and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services jointly found that increased use
of telehealth for OUD services during the
pandemic was associated with reduced risk
of overdose. Telehealth has been shown
to be a critical tool in increasing access
to medications for OUD, but millions
of patients are at risk of losing access to
their preferred method of treatment when
the waiver of the in-person requirement
expires when the COVID-19 PHE does.
DEA has drafted long-awaited regulations
to create a special registration process for
telehealth providers, but those rules have not
yet been released. Since 2008, the original
Ryan Haight Act has required Congress to
continually follow up with DEA to request
the promulgation of these rules, including by
creating a legal deadline of October 2019 in
the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that
Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment
for Patients and Communities Act passed
into law in 2018 and most recently in a
letter to DEA from Senator Mark Warner
(D-VA). To allow for the prescribing
flexibilities to persist permanently, Senators
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rob
Portman (R-OH) have spearheaded the
Telehealth Response for E-prescribing
Addiction Therapy Services Act.
The White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy and DEA itself have
both indicated support for permanent
flexibilities to offer telehealth for
medication treatment by including it in
the official 2022 National Drug Control
Strategy. It remains to be seen when DEA
will publish the special registration or other
rule addressing this issue and how it will
change its current policy to increase access.
An Opioid PHE
As the COVID-19 PHE winds down, the
opioid epidemic PHE has not dwindled.
Policymakers in Congress and the federal
administration have paid greater attention
to increasing access to medications for
OUD over recent years, but more could be
done to update the regulatory environment
and ensure that pharmacists can play
the most effective role in that effort.
This article was written by Megan S.
Herber, MPH, and Nisha K. Quasba,
MPH, with Faegre Drinker Biddle &
Reath LLP. Please note, the opinions and
views expressed by Faegre Drinker Biddle &
Reath do not necessarily reflect the official
views, opinions, or policies of NABP or any
member board, unless expressly stated.
OCTOBER 2022 | 3
Innovations-Magazine-October-2022

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