Warner presses DOJ, DEA on access to prescription medicines via telemedicine

The current COVID-19 public health emergency declaration is set to expire on Oct. 13, which will impact access to certain prescribed medications via telemedicine appointments.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner is asking the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration to explain their plan to ensure continuity of care for patients being prescribed controlled substances via COVID-19 Public Health Emergency telemedicine flexibilities.

“At the onset of the COVID-19 PHE, I was pleased to see the DEA act swiftly to ensure that patients could continue to access medically necessary controlled substances, including treatment for opioid use disorder, via telehealth by waiving the requirement that the patient have a prior in-person visit, regardless of their location, for the duration of the PHE,” Warner wrote in a letter to the DOJ and DEA today.

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the DEA has waived certain requirements of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008, including in-person or special registration requirements in order to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth.

“In the more than two years since that flexibility was put into place, patients have successfully continued and established treatment virtually, without reports of widespread harm,” Warner wrote. “The pandemic has shown that telehealth is an appropriate modality for a great deal of health care services, and that health care providers and their patients should be at the center of modality decision-making.”