HHS Retracts Proposal To End Physician Waiver Needed To Prescribe Buprenorphine

On January 27, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) retracted its January 14 announcement proposing to eliminate the need for physicians to obtain a special X waiver from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) before prescribing buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder (OUD). HHS said the announcement was made prematurely. It will not issue new practice guidelines at this time.

In the proposal released January 14, HHS said the plan was to remove the current requirement that physicians complete an eight-hour DEA course to obtain the X waiver. By removing the waiver requirement, any physician . . .