Biden Administration to Halt Plan to Let More Doctors Prescribe Buprenorphine

The Biden administration intends to stop a plan by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to allow more doctors to prescribe buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction, The Washington Post reports.

The HHS plan had been formulated during the Trump administration. A draft announcement of the cancellation obtained by the newspaper states the plan “had significant legal and clinical concerns.”

The plan would have allowed doctors more flexibility in prescribing buprenorphine by eliminating the requirement that doctors obtain a special federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine. Doctors are currently required to take an eight-hour course to receive the waiver.

One HHS official told The Washington Post the agency will continue to pursue other options to reduce requirements on physicians before they can prescribe buprenorphine.