15 Years in the Making: New DEA Proposed Rules on Remote Prescribing of Controlled Substances

In the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s (NABP) Innovations publication, health policy and government regulations director Elliot Vice and senior manager Nisha Quasba coauthored an article on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposed rules that revise regulations on remote prescribing of Schedule II-V controlled substances (CS) as the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is set to end.

The authors explain the proposed rule and how it creates two new requirements relevant to the pharmacy community: a “telemedicine prescription” notation and a requirement that the prescriber check the prescription drug monitoring program system prior to issuing a prescription for a CS.

In conclusion, Vice and Quasba state that the open comment period allowed the DEA to hear active feedback from those most impacted by the regulations, which will hopefully lead to clearer guidance in the final rule the agency plans to publish in May 2023.