To Protect Palliative Care Patients During The COVID-19 Pandemic, Allow More Flexibility To Prescribe Controlled Substances By Phone
During the COVID-19 pandemic, palliative care providers have converted the majority of consultations from in-person visits to telemedicine. These changes are critical to provide safe and effective care for patients; however, in many cases, providers are unable to prescribe the full range of treatments needed for adequate symptom management.
Despite recent Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) policy changes during the pandemic, palliative care providers often are unable to prescribe controlled substances for patients who have remote visits via telephone without video. In a recent Health Affairs article, providers call on the DEA to waive the visual requirement.