Congress and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have both made moves recently that will effect telehealth.
Federal Spending Bill Extends Telehealth Flexibilities
Congress has extended telehealth flexibilities through its recent federal spending bill, H.R. 1968, titled “Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025” (the Act). Notably for health care providers, among other things, the Act extends certain telehealth flexibilities to September 30, 2025, including 1) removing geographic requirements and expanding originating sites for telehealth services; 2) expanding the type of practitioners eligible to furnish telehealth services; 3) extending telehealth services for federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics; 4) delaying the in-person requirement under Medicare for mental health services furnished via telehealth; 5) allowing for the furnishing of audio-only telehealth services; and 6) extending the use of telehealth to conduct face-to-face encounters prior to recertification of eligibility for hospice care.
DEA Postpones Effective Date of Expanded Telemedicine Buprenorphine Treatment Rule
The DEA is postponing the implementation of a final rule on telemedicine prescribing of buprenorphine to December 31, 2025. As noted in our previous DEA Telemedicine Update, the DEA published a final rule in January 2025 that would allow practitioners to prescribe Schedule III-V controlled substances approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid use disorder via a telemedicine encounter, including audio-only (the Telemedicine Rule). This rule was scheduled to become effective February 18, 2025.
However, on March 24, 2025, the DEA, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published 90 FR 13410, a final rule that delayed the effective date to December 31, 2025. The DEA and HHS reasoned that they delayed the rule “for the purpose of further reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise.” This delay of the Telemedicine Rule does not affect practitioners’ current ability to prescribe via telemedicine, because the “Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications,” which has been in effect since May 2023, remains in place until December 31, 2025.
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