The COVID-inspired flexibility to prescribe some medicines via telehealth will soon expire – and it is not clear whether the practice will be extended.
While there is general support for telehealth prescribing, policymakers appear to be divided over whether to permit continued use of telehealth to prescribe Schedule 2 drugs such as Adderall.
The next step in clearing the path to extending the flexibility was supposed to be a proposed regulation from the Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA has submitted a draft to the Office of Management and Budget for review but published reports suggest that the Department of Health and Human Services has objected to the proposal and now time is running out on a prospective regulatory solution. While Congress could act to extend the current flexibility, it, too, appears to be divided on the question of what drugs should continue to be available via telehealth and which should be prescribed only after patients meet in person with authorized prescribers – and Congress also is otherwise preoccupied by the need to pass legislation to fud the federal government and by the November elections.
Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick, with current authorization for certain types of e-prescribing set to expire at the end of 2024.
Learn more about the issue, the prospect for action in Congress or through the DEA, and more from the Fierce Healthcare article “Gridlock over Schedule 2 telehealth prescribing could impede extension of pandemic-era flexibilities.”