DEA's telemedicine special registration rule reaches final review as the current flexibilities run out on December 31

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs lists RIN 1117-AB40, Special Registrations for Telemedicine and Limited State Telemedicine Registrations, as received August 25, 2026 at the final rule stage and economically significant. That review is the last step before publication. The text is not public. It finalizes the proposal DEA published on January 17, 2025.

Separately, the fourth temporary extension of the pandemic era telemedicine flexibilities, issued by DEA and HHS on December 31, 2025, runs from January 1 through December 31, 2026. It is the authority under which a practitioner may today prescribe a controlled medication to a patient never examined in person.

• Practitioners prescribing controlled substances to patients seen only by telemedicine.
• Pharmacies filling those prescriptions, including mail order pharmacies serving telehealth platforms.

Applies to prescriptions for controlled substances issued by telemedicine without a prior in person evaluation. Non controlled prescriptions, including compounded GLP-1s, are outside this rule.

1. List every telehealth prescriber that sends you controlled substance prescriptions and ask each for its plan for January 1, 2027.
2. Read the January 2025 proposed rule; the final rule will follow its structure.
3. Confirm your own DEA registration and schedule authorizations are current.

Licensure and Registration. The Licensure and Registration domain verifies DEA registration and schedule authorizations against the issuing authority. A prescriber side special registration is a new status the same domain will need to account for.

• OIRA regulatory review record, RIN 1117-AB40, Special Registrations for Telemedicine and Limited State Telemedicine Registrations
  PrimaryOffice of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and BudgetRIN 1117-AB40Retrieved Sep 21, 2026

  Received date 08/25/2026; stage Final Rule; economically significant Yes; legal deadline Statutory.

• Fourth Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications
  PrimaryDrug Enforcement Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, Federal RegisterFR Doc. 2025-24123Retrieved Sep 21, 2026

  SUMMARY and DATES: effective January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026; background section on the January 17, 2025 special registration NPRM (90 FR 6541).