A unified perspective on care was offered by physicians, pharmacists, and telemedicine leaders during the federal review of the DEA’s permanent rule
As temporary federal allowances permitting telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances are set to expire on December 31, 2026, the Personalized Health Association (PHA) is calling on federal regulators to complete the Drug Enforcement Administration’s permanent rule on schedule and ensure it remains practical for the patients, physicians, telehealth platforms, and pharmacies it affects.
PHA functions as a unified advocacy group comprising patients, providers, telehealth platforms, and pharmacy providers. On September 29, 2026, the organization met with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), along with personnel from the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration—the agencies reviewing the final rule under Executive Order 12866—and outlined how the rule would function across the entire care spectrum, from the telemedicine consultation through the completed prescription.
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Since 2020, patients have been able to obtain prescriptions for mental health, pain, sleep, and addiction treatment via secure video visits without a prior in-person exam, thanks to temporary federal flexibilities. PHA backs finalizing the permanent rule within its November timeline but calls for adjustments to make the rule effective, deregulatory, cost-efficient, and grounded in common sense.
Jonathan Mordis, Pharm.D., the PHA Pharmacy Advisor and CEO of a national chain of compounding pharmacies, discussed the rule’s operational impact at the dispensing stage. “Pharmacies already report every controlled prescription we fill to state prescription monitoring programs,” said Mordis. “Requiring that same data again, in a second format, adds cost and diverts time better spent on patient care. Identity verification belongs at the start of care, before a prescription is written, not downstream at the pharmacy.”
“Accessible patient care depends on these flexibilities every day. Preserving access and affordability is essential to ensuring continuity of care,” said Jimmy St. Louis, President and Board Member of PHA. “We support finalizing this rule on schedule in a way that preserves responsible patient access and provides a clear, practical roadmap for expanding the guidelines.”
“Our north star is the patient-provider partnership,” said Bill Moses, Founder and Director of PHA. “We support the DEA’s responsibility to prevent diversion and misuse, and protecting patients also means preserving their access to appropriate care. The final rule should preserve the provider’s clinical judgment and the patient’s informed participation in treatment decisions, within appropriate safeguards and the law.”
PHA’s proposals are organized into three categories, each aimed at cutting costs and administrative burdens without eliminating any safeguard the rule depends on:
Remove overlapping requirements. Replace separate state-by-state registrations and fees with a single national DEA registration, and depend on the dispensing information pharmacies already submit to state prescription monitoring programs.
Harmonize requirements with current practices and technology. Rely on the patient’s home-state prescription database until a national query tool exists; verify identity according to state law; define telemedicine platforms as entities whose compensation is tied to prescribing; and set standards for the most tightly controlled medications based on the proposed rule’s specialist and treatment-purpose criteria.
Guarantee continuity of care. Set a compliance date 12 months after publication and extend current flexibilities in the meantime so no patient undergoing active treatment faces a gap on January 1.
These same recommendations have also been submitted to the public record by major medical, hospital, and pharmacy groups. The DEA’s own analysis projects over 145,000 new registrations and $24 million in fees during the rule’s initial year. The full list of PHA’s seven recommendations can be found here. The meeting, its attendees, and PHA’s submission are all included in the public record maintained by OMB at reginfo.gov.
“We strongly support prescription monitoring,” said Henry J. Legere III, MD, PHA Medical Advisor and founder of JRNYS Wellness. “We are not asking the DEA to weaken it. We are asking that the requirement reflect the checks clinicians can perform today, with the nationwide requirement taking effect once the technology exists.”
Candace McDonald
Personalized Health Association
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