The 8-hour opioid or other substance use disorders training activities below (along with the other pathways) meet the Federal training requirement of the 2022 Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act. Completion will allow qualified physicians to apply for a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) initial registration or renewal registration on or after June 27, 2023. Physicians will be required to check a box on their online DEA registration affirming they completed the training requirement. The one-time training requirement affirmation will not be a part of future registration renewals.

Pathways to satisfy requirement:

1. All practitioners that are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry from the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Board of Addiction Medicine, or the American Osteopathic Association.
2. All practitioners that graduated in good standing from a medical, dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing school in the United States within five years of June 27, 2023 and successfully completed a comprehensive curriculum that included at least eight hours of training on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders including the appropriate use of all drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of a substance use disorder.
3. Engage in a total of eight hours of training on treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders from an accredited group, including the APA. The eight hours does not need to occur in one session and past trainings on treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders can count towards the requirement.

Past DATA-waived trainings count towards the DEA registrants eight-hour training requirement.

Educational Offerings

• Book-based Learning – Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder, Second Edition
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• In-Depth Online Training via APA Learning Center: "Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder"
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The Elimination of the Buprenorphine Waiver

In December 2022, The Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act passed with the signing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 eliminating the buprenorphine waiver (X waiver). In order to prescribe buprenorphine to patients, you must still get a DEA license registration number, but the previously used DATA-Waiver registration numbers are no longer needed for any prescriptions. The Act also eliminated limits or patient caps on the number of patients a prescriber may treat for opioid use disorder with buprenorphine. Practitioners will be required to check a box on their online DEA registration form affirming that they have completed the new one-time training requirement.

Read more about the DEA guidelines for satisfying the training requirement here.

June 2026 Final Rule Update: In June 2026, the DEA issued a final rule implementing the statutory changes made by the MAT Act and related provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. The rule formally removed the remaining regulatory framework associated with the former DATA-waiver program, rendering the 2021 HHS Practice Guidelines and their limited exemption pathway obsolete. As a result, practitioners no longer rely on the HHS exemption process or submit Notices of Intent to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder. Instead, any practitioner with the appropriate DEA registration and state authority may prescribe buprenorphine, subject to applicable federal and state requirements, including the one-time MATE Act training requirement.