The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an Interim Final Rule to clarify sections of the 2018 SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act. The provisions in the Rule seek to further expand providers’ abilities to prescribe medication assisted treatment (MAT) to individuals suffering from opioid use disorders.

Key items addressed in the Rule include:

1. Providers can prescribe MAT for up to 100 patients immediately, if the provider holds credentialing in addiction medicine or provides MAT using covered medications in a qualified practice setting. This updates prior rules which mandated a waivered provider could only treat up to 30 patients in their first year of the waiver before applying to treat up to 100 patients.
2. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants had previously been granted the ability to be waivered to prescribe MAT on a temporary basis. The Interim Final Rule made this provision permanent.
3. The definition of a “qualifying provider” eligible to prescribe MAT was expanded to include clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwives. These providers are eligible to prescribe MAT on a temporary basis, through October 1, 2023. Waivered providers are eligible to treat up to 30 patients.
4. A physician is eligible to receive a waiver to prescribe MAT if the physician recently graduated from a medical school that included at least 8 hours of training on treating and managing opioid-dependent patients.This shifts new waivers from post-residency continuing medical education to medical school or residency training.
5. Pharmacies can permanently provide medications for maintenance or detoxification treatment to providers’ registered locations for use in treatment. Pharmacies previously were only allowed to deliver medications to the ultimate user or research subject.

Please send feedback on the Interim Final Rule to Chris Regal (cregal@ahip.org) by December 3. We will circulate draft comments prior to the December 10 Opioid Addiction Prevention and Treatment Work Group meeting. 

We look forward to your feedback. Please be in touch with questions. Thank you.

Article provided by AHIP.