Controlled substance update:

As expected, the DEA will be extending the COVID telemedicine rulings until November 11^th! I figured they would consider the tens of thousands of comments made on the DEA website. So, if you have commented, I want to thank you! It definitely made a difference.

The previous flexibilities of prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine that were given to prescribing providers during the COVID pandemic will stay in full force for another 6 months. This is fantastic news as many nurse practitioner business owners prescribe controlled substances, such as testosterone, via telemedicine.

The DEA Administrator stated that they would take all the public comments very seriously when drafting new regulations surrounding the prescription of controlled substances via telemedicine. We really have no idea what those regulations are, but we all know the proposed rules they had mentioned a few months ago were not realistic. Restricting the prescription of a controlled substance to only 30 days and then requiring an in-person visit doesn’t make sense. We have all been doing this safely and effectively for almost 3 years now… Did the DEA expect bad outcomes to happen now magically? In my opinion, it was ridiculous and would have been a significant barrier to care and for the nurse practitioner entrepreneur.

So, everyone take a deep breath and keep conducting business as usual. We have another 6 months! I will continue to keep a close eye on this and update everyone as new developments occur. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that the new proposed regulations are reasonable in nature and allow the future of medicine and healthcare delivery to flourish. But we might not know anything for at least 4 months, so keep conducting business as usual, and we will all cross this bridge when we need to.

The final ruling can be found here.