Updates to Requirements for Prescribing Buprenorphine

As announced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in January 2023, clinicians no longer need a federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder.  Clinicians will still be required to register with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to prescribe controlled medications. On June 27, the DEA began to require that registration applicants – both new and renewing – affirm they have completed a new, one-time, eight-hour training. Exceptions for the new training requirement are practitioners who are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry, and those who graduated from a medical, dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing school in the U.S. within five years of June 27, 2023.  Watch this 11-minute video that explains the changes. Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) still have the opportunity to apply for a $3,000 payment on behalf of each provider who trained between January 1, 2019 and December 29, 2022 (when Congress eliminated the waiver requirement).  Approximately $889,000 in program funding remains available for RHCs and will be paid on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted.  Send questions to DATA2000WaiverPayments@hrsa.gov.