Announced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, clinicians no longer need a federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder. However, clinicians are still required to register with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to prescribe controlled medications.
Updates to Requirements for Buprenorphine Prescribing.
The DEA began to require that registration applicants, both new and renewing, confirm that they have completed the one time, eight hour training. Exceptions for the new training requirement are the 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. If you have questions, e-mail: DATA2000WaiverPayments@hrsa.gov.
As we continue to explore emergency department (ED) visits by individuals struggling with behavioral health concerns, we cannot miss the fact that many of these visits are related to opiate use. The research overwhelmingly supports the need to start medication interventions immediately.
CMS recently released the a podcast series that emphasizes this point and guides the listener through the next steps: Access the recent Quality E-News blog post which we highlight the series: Buprenorphine Initiation in the Emergency Department – Why, When, and How? Visit Great Plains QIN Pain & Substance Use Disorder website page for additional resources.
Focus for Health Series: Strategies for Opioid Misuse:
- Awareness of Prescription Opioid Misuse: Presentation I Recording
- Naloxone Training and Education: Presentation I Recording
- Pathways for Safer Opioid Use: Presentation I Recording
- Diversion: Recording
Focus for Health Series: Reducing Avoidable Emergency Department Visits:
- Reducing Avoidable Emergency Department Visits: Presentation | Recording
- Communication During Hand-Off’s’: Presentation I Recording
- Communication Strategies: Presentation I Recording
- Infections, Falls, Medications, Success Measurement & Celebrating: Presentation I Recording
Webinar Series: Ensuring Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Treatment through the Care Continuum
Join the QIN-QIO collaborative Webinar series, Ensuring Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Treatment through the Care Continuum. This series provides strategies, interventions, and targeted solutions to ensure access to MOUD treatment and facilitate the continuity of care through the continuum. Learn more, get registered and access Series recordings and presentations on our Web site.