Published: June 19, 2023

New Requirements for All DEA-Registered Practitioners

Beginning on June 27, 2023, practicing otolaryngologists will need to complete a one-time, eight-hour training requirement on the treatment of patients with opioid or other substances use disorders.

Stephen P. Cragle MD, Board of Governors’ Socioeconomic and Grassroots Committee Member

The MATE Act, which Congress passed at the end of 2022 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, enacted a new one-time, eight-hour training requirement for all Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered practitioners on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. As this includes all practicing otolaryngologists, Academy members in the United States will need to satisfy this new training requirement. Beginning on June 27, 2023, practitioners who apply for or renew their DEA registration will be required to check a box on their online DEA registration form affirming that they have completed the new training requirement. This one-time affirmation will not be a part of future registration renewals. This was outlined in a letter from the DEA on March 27, 2023.

All practitioners who are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry from the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Board of Addiction Medicine, or the American Osteopathic Association are already deemed to have completed the training. Some physicians who graduated in good standing from a medical school in the U.S. within five years of June 27, 2023, may be considered to have satisfied the requirement if they completed a comprehensive 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 Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of a substance use disorder.

Most otolaryngologists will not meet the above stipulations, so they will need to satisfy this training by engaging in a total of eight hours of training on treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders from an approved curriculum. Please note that the training does not have to occur in one session. It can be cumulative across multiple sessions that equal eight hours of training. Past courses on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders can count toward a practitioner meeting this requirement. Training can occur in a variety of formats, including classroom settings, seminars at professional society meetings, or virtual offerings.

A number of accredited groups provide training that meet this new requirement, including:

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
The American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP)
American Medical Association (AMA)
The American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
The American Dental Association (ADA)
The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS)
The American Psychiatric Association (APA)
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
The American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA)

Any other organization accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (AACCME), such as our own American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), can also provide training to meet this requirement. A brief search of OTO Logic returned 16 hours of opioid-related content, though at the present time the Academy has not approved or certified any content to meet the training requirements.

In our search and in discussions with committee members and on ENT Connect, we have found that free content is available to AMA members that could meet the requirements for training at the following links. This is an incomplete list of available modules but does satisfy training requirements. There are many offerings from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), which also qualify but appear to cost around $200 for nonmembers.