Washington (May 4, 2023) – With the federal government’s COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declaration ending this month, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, led his colleagues Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram urging the Biden administration to permanently extend PHE flexibilities in telehealth services for patients in need of prescribed buprenorphine, an opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment medication. The letter follows reports that DEA is seeking to only temporarily extend flexibilities for buprenorphine after the PHE declaration expires on May 11th.
Expanded telehealth services throughout the PHE have increased opportunities for people to enroll in treatment and remain in treatment longer, and have reduced the risks of overdose. In preparation for the termination of the PHE declaration, the DEA proposed permanent rules on access to buprenorphine via telemedicine that would roll back critical flexibilities in telehealth services for OUD patients who are starting this potentially life-saving treatment. This includes requiring patients to visit a provider in person to renew their prescription beyond an initial 30-day supply. The senators’ concerns regarding the rollback of these telehealth rules have been echoed by 45 attorneys general.
In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “Given the opioid epidemic’s scope, we must ensure that all OUD medication treatment options are accessible to everyone, regardless of their geographic location, economic status, or ability. While the DEA’s proposed rules take a step forward in permanently incorporating telehealth, they scale back flexibilities that people rely on to access life-saving OUD medications.”
The lawmakers continued, “With Fentanyl-related overdoses the leading cause of death for people under 50 years old, and more than 200 people in the United States dying from overdoses each day, now is the time to do everything in our power to ensure people have access to the medications they need to live healthy lives.”
In March, Senator Markey led his colleagues in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use (SAMHSA) Miriam Delphin-Rittmon expressing support for regulations that would expand access to OUD medication treatment such as methadone and highlighting barriers that patients would continue to face if methadone for OUD were only made available at opioid treatment programs. Later that month, Senator Markey, along with Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Representatives Donald Norcross (NJ-01) and Don Bacon (NE-02), introduced their bipartisan and bicameral Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act, which will improve patients’ ability to access medication treatment for OUD by permitting board-certified physicians in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry to prescribe methadone to patients and allowing methadone to be dispensed at pharmacies.
In July 2021, Senator Markey reintroduced two pieces of bipartisan legislation—the Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act and the Lessening Addiction by Enhancing Labeling (LABEL) Opioids Act—to improve prescriber education on risks associated with opioid medications and require warning labels on addictive opioid medications.
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