New DEA Rule Proposal may limit prescribing ADHD medications by Telehealth to 50%

Please submit a comment by the deadline on 03/18/2025 at 11:59 pm EST and let the DEA know that you would like them to remove the proposed 50% cap on stimulant medications by telehealth prescribers.

The DEA did indicate that if they receive enough comments on this particular aspect of their proposed plan for 2026, that they will remove it.

Regulations.gov

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) has recently proposed a new rule limiting clinicians to issuing no more than 50% of their Schedule II controlled substance prescriptions via telehealth.

This policy, although intended to curb medication diversion, will have severe, unintended consequences—particularly for underserved and rural populations who depend on telepsychiatry for consistent, high-quality mental healthcare.

ADHD is currently the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in America (CDC, 2022). According to the CDC, 6% of adults and 14.3% of adolescents (12–17) live with ADHD—over 22 million Americans (CDC, 2022). For perspective, more American children are born with ADHD than Irish children are born with red hair (Sheikh, 2009).

Half of all American counties do not have a single working psychiatrist.
The reduced life expectancy (9-13 years) caused by untreated ADHD exceeds the impact of both obesity and smoking combined (Barkley & Fischer, 2019).
Patients prescribed ADHD medication have a 31% lower rate of substance abuse. The longer an individual stayed on ADHD medication, the lower their future risk of substance abuse, each additional year of treatment reduced risk by 13% (Chang et al., 2014)
Telehealth for mental healthcare has proven to be as effective as in-person visits by several meta analyses (McCord, 2022, Shaker, 2023).

Many psychiatry PAs strive to ethically bridge the significant gap in care for rural Americans with ADHD by providing continuing telehealth care to patients who have no other option. Those specializing in rural ADHD care would be disproportionately harmed by this proposed limit and thousands of Americans with ADHD will lose access to care.