BATON ROUGE, LA – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry
and 44 other state attorneys general are urging the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) to permanently extend telehealth flexibilities for
prescribing buprenorphine, an opioid use disorder treatment.
Buprenorphine is one of three medications that is approved by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to treat patients suffering from addiction. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA allowed doctors to use telehealth services to
prescribe the medication; but the rule allowing buprenorphine to be prescribed
virtually is set to expire once the COVID-19 public health emergency ends.
“The opioid epidemic has destroyed communities
across Louisiana and the country,” said Attorney General Landry. “As we
continue to hold those that proliferated the epidemic accountable, we must also
ensure those suffering from substance abuse disorder have efficient access to
treatment.”
Our State and our Nation are in the grips of an opioid epidemic,
with more than 100,000 Americans dying due to overdose last year
alone. Attorney General Landry has been on the front lines fighting the crisis
to protect Louisianans and Americans from deadly synthetic opioids like
fentanyl. Interdiction efforts alone will not end the crisis; therefore, Attorney
General Landry and his colleagues are urging for this buprenorphine treatment
to remain easily available for those in need.
As a condition of the COVID-19 public health emergency,
in March 2020, the DEA allowed audio-visual telemedicine services to prescribe
all Schedule II-V controlled substances – including buprenorphine. Without the
proposed permanent extension, the current expiration of the public health
emergency could cut off an estimated 2.5 million American adults who utilize
the opioid use disorder treatment.
In a letter to top DEA and SAMHSA officials, Attorney
General Landry and the other state chief legal officers highlight how the
existing flexibilities are critical to linking individuals with opioid use
disorder to care: “The number of patients receiving buprenorphine as
treatment…increased significantly when telehealth flexibilities were allowed…it
also improved retention in care and reduced the odds of overdose for
individuals prescribed buprenorphine via telehealth for opioid use disorder
treatment.”
The current allowance for telehealth services also
expands access of buprenorphine to patients who may have previously struggled
to receive the medication. Attorney General Landry and his colleagues noted,
“An estimated 28 million Americans live more than 10 miles and about 3 million
live over 30 miles from a buprenorphine provider. Today, the delivery of care
for buprenorphine treatment has shifted significantly to telehealth, making it
more accessible than ever for individuals to access the treatment they need.”
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Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is joined in this
petition by the attorneys general from Florida, North Carolina, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia,
Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont,
Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
