On Friday afternoon, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published their long awaited telemedicine rule extension. This extension will allow time for the DEA to draft and publish a rule in the next year.

• This is a one year extension and it runs until December 31, 2025
• It will give time for DEA and HHS to write a more permanent rule on telemedicine prescription
• 20 members of Congress had written DEA asking for this extension
• The extension allows all DEA registered practitioners to prescribe Schedule II-V controlled medications via telemedicine without an in-person exam
• There is a draft rule at OMB, which is not the extension, but it is unlikely to be released before the end of the current Administration
• HHS has non-concurred on the rule at OMB, which is very rare
• The second rule, when it comes out next year, will be limited to cases where the prescriber has never seen their patient face-to-face
• Congress has mandated a telehealth proscribing rule in multiple pieces of legislation starting in 2008, and it has never been published
• Without this extension, pharmacies were expected to stop filling many telehealth prescriptions.