New DEA License Requirement Starts in June

When the Biden administration killed the X waiver late last year, all clinicians registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) learned they would need 8 hours of training on substance use disorder (SUD) management in order to renew their licenses.

The DEA has now issued a deadline for that requirement, and it’s less than 3 months away.

Starting on June 27, all clinicians will have to check a box on their online DEA registration form — whether they’re renewing or initiating a license — affirming they’ve completed that training, according to the DEA’s announcement from last week.

It’s a one-time requirement that won’t be part of future registration renewals, the DEA said.

Some clinicians will be exempt from completing the 8-hour training, including those who are board-certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry via the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Board of Addiction Medicine, or the American Osteopathic Association.

Clinicians who have completed a “comprehensive curriculum” that included at least 8 hours of training on treating and managing patients with opioid use disorders or other SUDs, including the appropriate clinical use of all drugs approved by the FDA to treat these conditions, will also be exempt.

Clinicians can satisfy the 8-hour training requirement on treating and managing SUDs by completing courses from a list of approved organizations, including the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, and the American Osteopathic Association.

The training doesn’t have to occur in one session, and can be cumulative across multiple sessions, totaling 8 hours, the DEA said. Past trainings can also count toward meeting requirements. For instance, relevant training from one of the qualified groups prior to the enactment of the policy would count toward the 8-hour requirement.

And, of course, previous trainings completed as part of obtaining an X waiver count as well, the agency noted.

Several groups, including the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, declined to comment on the new policy. The American Medical Association issued a press release announcing the availability of its free courses that would satisfy the new DEA requirement.

The X waiver was a special DEA certification that allowed clinicians to prescribe buprenorphine (Suboxone) to treat SUDs, and it had long been considered a bureaucratic hurdle to improving access to treatment for these patients.

The Biden administration had been chipping away at barriers to care for patients with SUDs, and in April 2021 it scrapped the X waiver’s training requirements for doctors and other healthcare providers. Those wanting to prescribe buprenorphine only had to register for the waiver in order to do so.

Late last year, the administration’s omnibus spending bill carried language eliminating the X waiver requirement completely. Subsequently, the Medication Access and Training Expansion Act bolstered training requirements by requiring all clinicians with a DEA license to have completed a one-time, 8-hour training on managing patients with opioid use disorder and other SUDs.