STAT+: Senate bill would permanently extend Covid-era rules on telehealth addiction treatment
A bipartisan bill would permanently extend a Covid-era policy that allowed patients to receive buprenorphine via telehealth, without an in-person visit.
A bipartisan group of senators this week introduced a bill that would permanently allow health providers to prescribe buprenorphine, a common medication used to treat opioid addiction, via telehealth.
The measure, known as the Telehealth Response for E-prescribing Addiction Therapy Services Act — TREATS, for short — would permanently extend a temporary, Covid-era policy that allowed patients to receive buprenorphine remotely, without an in-person visit.
While certain law enforcement officials have expressed concern that buprenorphine prescribed remotely could be misused, addiction treatment experts say there’s little evidence to that effect. Amid a public health crisis, they argue, any restrictions on lifesaving medications like buprenorphine would hurt far more than they help.
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