New DEA Registration Training Requirement

Starting June 27, the new, one-time, eight-hour Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) training requirement for all DEA-registered practitioners on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders takes effect.

Starting next week, practitioners must check a box on their online DEA registration form—both initial application and renewals—affirming that they have completed the new one-time training requirement.  It will not apply to future renewals.

Two groups of psychiatrists are deemed to have already met the requirement:

  1. Those who are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Board of Addiction Medicine, or the American Osteopathic Association.
  2. Those who graduated from a medical (allopathic or osteopathic) school within five years of June 27, 2023, and completed a curriculum that included at least eight hours of training on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders, including the appropriate clinical use of all drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of a substance use disorder.

Other psychiatrists can satisfy the requirement with eight hours of training on treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders from specified accredited groups, including ASAM, AAAP, AMA, AOA, APA, MPS and others. Key points:

  1. The training can be cumulative across multiple sessions that total eight hours.
  2. A relevant training from one of the specified groups completed prior to December 29, 2022 counts towards the eight-hour requirement. [See the list of MPS CMEs that count for DEA training.]
  3. Past DATA-Waiver training to prescribe buprenorphine count.
  4. Trainings can occur in various formats, including classrooms, seminars at professional society meetings, or virtual offerings.

DEA notified registrants and SAMHSA issued guidance for the required training.  Please contact the Diversion Control Division Policy Section at (571) 362-3260 with any questions.