Telemedicine Prescribing of Controlled Substances When the Practitioner and the Patient Have Not Had a Prior In-Person Medical Evaluation

Under the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 and Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) implementing regulations, after a patient and a practitioner have had an in-person medical evaluation, that practitioner may use telehealth to prescribe that patient any prescription for a controlled medication that the practitioner deems medically necessary. The Ryan Haight Act and DEA's implementing regulations do not apply to other forms of telemedicine, telehealth, or telepsychiatry that are not otherwise addressed in the Controlled Substances Act. This proposed rule applies only in limited circumstances when the prescribing practitioner wishes to prescribe controlled medications via the practice of telemedicine and has not otherwise conducted an in-person medical evaluation prior to the issuance of the prescription.