Foley Attorneys Discuss DEA Proposal to Expand Telemedicine Prescriptions

Foley & Lardner LLP Partners Thomas Ferrante, Rachel Goodman, and Nathaniel Lacktman are quoted in the HealthLeaders article, “DEA Proposal Expands Telemedicine Prescriptions for Controlled Medications,” discussing what they see as shortcomings in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s proposal.

Lacktman’s written comments – originally published in full to Foley’s Health Care Law Today blog – detail how the DEA’s newly proposed rules on telemedicine controlled substances prescribing were “not what most industry stakeholders were anticipating.”

“The proposed rules are intended to bridge between the DEA’s current PHE waivers and a post-PHE environment,” Lacktman wrote. “In so doing, DEA proposed creating two new limited options for telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances without a prior in-person exam. The options [are] both complex and more restrictive than what has been allowed for the past three years under the PHE waivers.”

Ferrante and Goodman explained that the waiver of the in-person exam during the pandemic ensured “millions of both established and new patients were able to receive medically necessary prescriptions via telemedicine.”

“There have been efforts to amend the Ryan Haight Act and encourage the DEA to activate the telemedicine special registration rule before the PHE expires, including pending federal legislation,” they wrote in the Health Care Law Today blog earlier this year. “However, to date, the Ryan Haight Act has not been changed and the DEA has not activated the telemedicine special registration rule.”