The federal requirement that practitioners submit a notice of intent (NOI) to prescribe medications like buprenorphine for treating opioid use disorder (OUD) has been removed via the recently passed omnibus spending bill.

Section 1262 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was signed by President Joe Biden in December, drops the DATA Waiver (commonly known as the X Waiver) necessity for clinicians.  

With the change, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) has announced it will no longer be accepting NOIs.

All practitioners who have a current Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) registration that includes Schedule III authority may now prescribe buprenorphine for OUD in their practice if permitted by applicable state law, according to SAMHSA. 

On top of knowing the X Waiver is no longer needed, the DEA has informed registrants that they should be aware:

• Going forward, all prescriptions for buprenorphine only require a standard DEA registration number. The previously used DATA-Waiver registration numbers are no longer needed for any prescription.
• There are no longer any limits or patient caps on the number of patients a prescriber may treat for opioid use disorder with buprenorphine.
• The Act does not impact existing state laws or regulations that may be applicable.

The DEA “fully” supported the measure, stating, “In this moment, when the United States is suffering tens of thousands of opioid-related drug poisoning deaths every year, the DEA’s top priority is doing everything in our power to save lives.”