The DEA is Trying to Blow Up Telemedicine for the Most Vulnerable

Drastic restrictions on prescription of controlled substances is

Welcome to The Frontier Psychiatrist newsletter. It's been a while since Telehealth prescribing of controlled substances was a topic of coverage here! Since the indictment of the founders of Done, it would've been tempting to think of the status quo had reached an uneasy detente.

It hasn’t. The DEA and HHS have been having some…disagreements…

Internal disagreement among HHS, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House budget office over the highly anticipated special registration system allowing for telehealth prescribing of controlled substances is delaying the second attempt at the proposed rule, three key industry lobbyists told Inside Health Policy Wednesday (Aug. 27) night.

To remind my readers—controlled substance prescribing historically required an in-person visit thanks to something called the Ryan Haight Act, which was intended to prevent online pill mills. When it was suspended, predictably, we got some online pill mills.

The pandemic waiver of in-person req…