MGMA to DEA: Issue proposed telehealth rule (April 2, 2024)

April 2, 2024 

The Honorable Anne Milgram
Administrator
United States Drug Enforcement Administration
8701 Morrissette Drive
Springfield, VA 22152

Dear Administrator Milgram:

Thank you for your leadership and engagement in public listening sessions last fall related to telemedicine flexibilities and for your actions to ensure continued patient access to care delivered through telemedicine in advance of final telemedicine regulations this year.

Now that the first quarter of 2024 has passed, we write to request that DEA expedite the release of a revised proposed rule to permit and regulate the prescribing of controlled substances through telehealth. This rule is crucial for access to mental health, substance use disorder, and other telehealth care. As you know, the current flexibilities for telehealth expire at the end of this year; we request the updated rules be proposed immediately for the following reasons:

• Given the complexity of these issues and the significant stakeholder interest (as demonstrated through more than 38,000 public comments received by DEA on proposed rules), DEA must plan to ensure stakeholders have adequate time to provide feedback on any policy proposal.
• If DEA were to create a special registration process for telehealth prescribers, as proposed by both DEA and many stakeholders, significant operational lead time would be needed for DEA, practitioners, pharmacies, and other related service providers to implement the new special registration process and comply with other potential operational requirements and guardrails.
• Given widespread provider shortages, particularly in the mental health and substance use disorder treatment spaces, a rulemaking late in the year that makes significant policy changes would affect the ability of patients and clinicians to make appointments and ensure consistent access to care. While we hope the final rulemaking preserves patient access, any policy change that requires patients to seek in-person care would be extremely disruptive due to long scheduling lead times and in-office wait times.
• In addition to operational and implementation challenges for clinicians, there will be significant operational and staff training needs for pharmacies and other parts of the healthcare delivery system to ensure patients uninterrupted access to needed medical treatments offered through telehealth.
• Finally, DEA’s national leadership is needed to set a clear path forward for the nation and to encourage more consistent definitions and aligned requirements from state regulatory bodies. Alignment of requirements is needed to simplify compliance for healthcare providers and encourage telehealth providers to offer care in our nations most underserved areas – without geographic barriers such as state lines limiting access to care.

Thank you for your consideration of this request. We looking forward to working with you to ensure continued access to needed telehealth services for all Americans while protecting against diversion and inappropriate use.

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