The Biden administration is moving to make permanent the pandemic rules that allowed take-home drugs to help fight opioid addiction. The proposed rule from HHS would make it easier for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) to access drugs like methadone for home use and for providers to prescribe them via telehealth for patients with OUD. This change comes amid a broader administration push to address the opioid crisis — and while the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing whether to make a nasal spray for reversing opioid overdoses available without a prescription. “Enabling creative, effective strategies, such as telemedicine, is critical to reducing the number of overdose deaths in our country, particularly in underserved areas, and ending the overdose crisis,” a group of attorneys general from 44 states and the District of Columbia said in a letter last month calling for the extension.
