A White House ceremony on Tuesday marked the end of the “X-waiver” requirement.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, applauded the elimination of the certification on Twitter:
Thank you to all of the advocates who came to the White House today to mark the removal of a barrier to addiction treatment that has kept recovery out of reach for too many Americans for too long. With the X-waiver now gone, we will save more lives. https://t.co/nyINeJ0Gv7
— Rahul Gupta (@DrGupta46) January 24, 2023
The NACDS-backed move comes out of the inclusion of the bipartisan Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Act, which included the abolishment of the X-waiver.
Importantly, the law change removes the federal requirement for practitioners to have a DATA-Waiver registration (a.k.a. an “X-waiver”) to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
Notably, the removal of the X-waiver eliminates the statutory caps on the number of patients that a qualifying practitioner can treat — as long as the prescriber otherwise has a standard DEA registration. This change increases patients’ access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). It also simplifies for pharmacies the administrative processes around filling what are now X-waiver prescriptions.
Pharmacists and pharmacy teams have a critical role to play in curbing prescription opioid misuse and abuse — and NACDS continues to advocate for policies that would enhance Americans’ access to mental health and substance abuse treatment. Removing the X-waiver will help pave the way for enhanced access to MAT services for patients who struggle with opioid addiction.
