Sponsors (8)
The bill expands access to methadone through pharmacies and telemedicine—reducing travel and administrative barriers and increasing treatment availability—while raising trade-offs around patient privacy, potential diversion and safety risks, state-level interruptions to access, and technical/formulation constraints.
People with opioid use disorder (including Medicaid beneficiaries and rural patients) can obtain methadone at local pharmacies for supervised or take-home use, substantially expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) outside opioid treatment programs (OTPs).
Patients (especially in rural areas) can receive methadone maintenance or detox treatment via telemedicine from qualified practitioners, reducing travel burdens and improving continuity of care.
Hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, and healthcare workers benefit because pharmacies will not need a separate DEA registration to dispense methadone under this pathway, lowering administrative barriers and enabling faster local availability of MOUD.
Patients receiving pharmacy-dispensed methadone may face weaker confidentiality protections than in OTPs, increasing privacy risks for people in treatment.
States can request cessation or revocation of practitioner registrations in their jurisdiction, which could abruptly restrict local access to pharmacy-dispensed methadone and disrupt treatment for patients (including those in rural areas).
Expanding methadone prescribing outside OTPs may increase diversion risk if monitoring and controls are insufficient, potentially harming community safety.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DEA registration allowing qualified practitioners to prescribe methadone for OUD for pharmacy dispensing with e-prescribing, informed consent, telemedicine, and state opt-out authority.
Official title: Expand access to methadone through alternative care models using pharmacies.
Introduced June 24, 2026 by Edward John Markey · Last progress June 24, 2026
Creates a new DEA registration pathway that lets qualified practitioners prescribe methadone for opioid use disorder (MOUD) for pharmacy dispensing (liquid or dispersible tablet) for supervised or unsupervised use. The pathway requires electronic prescriptions, informed-consent documentation that explains differences from opioid treatment programs (OTPs), permits telemedicine, and removes a separate DEA pharmacy registration requirement for dispensing these prescriptions. Gives states authority to ask the Attorney General to stop registrations in their state, requires DEA reporting to Congress on practitioner registrations and pharmacy orders, and takes effect 180 days after enactment.