DEA extends pandemic-era telehealth prescribing flexibility for another year

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced this week that it will extend pandemic-era telehealth prescribing flexibilities for one year, through the end of 2025 (Source: “DEA finalizes one-year extension of telehealth prescribing, punts final regs to incoming Trump admin,” Fierce Healthcare, Nov. 18).
 
The temporary rule punts the issue to the incoming Trump administration, which will have to act on it in its first year.
 
The prescribing flexibilities put forward during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed licensed DEA providers to prescribe Schedule 2-5 controlled substances via telehealth. The flexibilities were set to expire Dec. 31, 2024. Lawmakers said they were ready to step in and extend the prescribing flexibilities if the DEA failed to act.
 
The unpublished temporary rule will officially be published on the Federal Register on Nov. 19. The incoming Trump administration can vacate any action taken within the last 60 days of the Biden administration without congressional approval. The DEA telemedicine rule has narrowly avoided this window and would have to be reviewed by Congress to be repealed.
 
Now that the DEA has finalized a one-year extension, Congress does not have to act to prevent the prescribing flexibility from lapsing. It is still expected to pass some type of end-of-year healthcare package that would extend the ability for more patients and providers to conduct Medicare telehealth visits by two years.