Resources & Information

NCMB has received inquiries about a new federal training requirement that affects all prescribers with a valid DEA registration, regardless of whether they prescribe opioids or treat patients with substance use disorder.

The training requirement, enacted in December 2022 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, obligates DEA registration holders, except for veterinarians, to complete eight hours of training on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders and the appropriate treatment of pain.

Beginning June 27, DEA will ask all registrants at their next renewal to certify during the renewal process that they have completed the required training. Any DEA registrant who is not exempt (see below) should take steps to ensure they have completed sufficient hours to satisfy the requirement by their next DEA renewal. Read DEA’s final guidance letter on the training requirement.

The following groups of prescribers are exempt from the training requirement as DEA has deemed them to have already met the training objectives:

1. All practitioners that are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry from the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Board of Addiction Medicine, or the American Osteopathic Association; and

2. All practitioners that graduated in good standing from a medical, dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing school in the United States within five years of June 27, 2023, and successfully completed a comprehensive curriculum that included at least eight hours of training in treating and managing opioid and other substance use disorders, safe pharmacological management of pain, and recognizing and responding to signs of substance use disorder among other topics.

All other DEA registrants must ensure they have completed at least eight hours of training in the required education topics. The good news is that DEA has indicated that it WILL accept completion of past trainings so prescribers may already have satisfied the training requirement in full or in part. DEA has not specified how recent past training must be, or if all past training will meet the requirement.

Examples of trainings that can be counted include past “X-waiver” or “DATA waiver” trainings taken in preparation to prescribe buprenorphine, as well as many continuing medical education modules that cover the required education topics, provided the training was presented by an accredited organization. See the DEA guidance letter for a list of accredited training groups.

Two recently developed CME modules developed by NCMB in collaboration with the UNC Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program and Wake AHEC cover content that may help satisfy the DEA training requirement. Find the modules here and here.

Looking for more hours? Check NCMB’s MAT resource page for more CME options.