Waiver for Buprenorphine prescribing lifted for providers treating 30 or fewer patients

On April 27, 2021, HHS released new practice guidelines for the administration of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). These new guidelines allow qualified nurse practitioners (NPs) and other health care professionals (qualified practitioners) to prescribe buprenorphine for OUD to as many as 30 patients without requiring them to obtain a Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 waiver (DATA-waiver). Qualified practitioners are still required to submit an application, designated as a “Notice of Intent” (NOI), in order to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of OUD and to indicate a patient limit of 30 on the NOI. Qualified practitioners who plan to treat more than 30 patients at a time with buprenorphine for OUD will need to go through the current DATA-waiver process. The new practice guidelines became effective April 28, 2021. Further information is available on AANP’s website and in the HHS announcement.