TREATS Act

This bill would make it easier for people to start and continue addiction treatment by using telehealth. It lets qualified health care providers prescribe certain addiction medicines without first seeing the patient in person, as long as they do a real-time telehealth visit (by phone or video) and follow federal and state laws. The change applies to medicines in schedules III–V that are approved to treat substance use disorders, and it defines a “telehealth evaluation” to include audio-only or audio-and-video visits with a practitioner who is not a pharmacist. It would make permanent a flexibility that’s currently set to end on December 31, 2025.

Key points:

• Who is affected: Patients with substance use disorders and health care practitioners who treat them (not pharmacists).
• What changes: Permanent permission to prescribe schedule III–V addiction treatments via telehealth without an initial in-person visit; telehealth can be by phone or video, with two-way, real-time communication .
• When: Makes the telehealth option permanent; the current temporary rule is set to expire December 31, 2025.