The MATE Act: Guidance on New Educational Requirement

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently released guidance on a mandatory (one-time) eight-hour training requirement on opioids or other substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. The Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act, requires new or renewing DEA registrants complete this training by the provider’s first DEA registration or renewal occurring on or after June 27, 2023.

Who must meet this new training requirement?
All DEA-registered providers including advanced practice providers (APPs) must complete the training.

What is the deadline for satisfying this new training requirement?
The deadline is the date of a provider’s next scheduled DEA registration or renewal—on or after June 27, 2023. This one-time training requirement affirmation will not be a part of future registration renewals.

How can providers satisfy this new training requirement?

These providers are deemed to have satisfied this training:

• All practitioners who 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
• All practitioners who graduated in good standing from a medical (allopathic or osteopathic), dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing school in the United States within five years of June 27, 2023 and successfully completed at least eight hours of training on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders, including the appropriate clinical use of all drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of a substance use disorder.

Providers can also satisfy this requirement by engaging at least eight hours of training on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. Note that:

• The training does not have to occur in one session.
• Past DATA X-Waived trainings count towards a DEA registrant’s 8-hour training requirement.
• Training can occur in a variety of formats, including classroom-based training, seminars at professional society meetings, or virtual offerings.

How will completed training be reported?

Beginning on June 27, 2023, providers completing a new registration application or renewing their registration will be required to check a box on their online DEA registration form to affirm that they have met the new training requirement.

What documentation will be needed to renew a DEA license?

You will not need to include any documentation but must be able to provide CME certificates, letters of participation, course overviews, or similar documentation if requested.

Where can I learn more?

See the official DEA letter to registered providers for more details and SAMHSA for additional guidance and recommendations for core elements of the required training.

Resources

Curi Resources

We currently have one CME activity related to this topic. While the activity is targeted towards a Florida law, it addresses basic principles relevant to the training requirement. Curi will release additional resources early this summer.

American Medical Association (AMA) Ed Hub has several courses available, totaling 36.5 credits. The courses below are presently listed as free.

• Buprenorphine Mini-Course: Building on Federal Prescribing Guidance (1.0 CME hour)
• Essentials of Good Pain Care: A Team-Based Approach (0.5 CME hour)
• Understanding Pain and Conducting a Pain Assessment: Practical Guidance for Pain Management (1.5 CME hours)
• Using Opioids Safely: Practical Guidance for Pain Management (2.5 CME hours)
• Taking Responsibility in Minnesota (1.0 CME hour)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• New 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain (1.0 CME hour)
• Talking About Naloxone (Web Based) (1.5 CME hours)

Medical Specialty Association Free Offerings

Consult your individual medical association to learn about offerings that meet this new requirement.

• Buprenorphine Initiation and Pain Management Workshop (9.25 CME hours)
• Emergency Medicine Medication for Addiction Treatment: Core Training (2 CME hours)
• EQUAL Opioid CME Collection (8.5 CME hours)

National Institutes of Health

• Words Matter – Terms to Use and Avoid When Talking About Addiction: A CME/CE Activity (0.75 CME hour)
• Your Words Matter – Language Showing Compassion and Care for Women, Infants, Families, and Communities Impacted by Substance Use Disorder: A CME/CE Activity (0.75 CME hour)

Fee-Based Training

American Academy of Family Physicians

Substance Use Disorders

American College of Emergency Physicians

ACEP Anesthesia & Analgesia Collection 2022

American Society of Addiction Medicine

• Buprenorphine Mini-Course: Building on Federal Prescribing Guidance
• Fundamentals of Addiction Medicine
• Pain & Addiction: Essentials Online
• Moving Beyond the Barriers of Treating OUD
• OUD Mini-Course: Treatment in the Emergency Department
• Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Note: Individual states may have more stringent education regulations on controlled substance prescribing. Consult your state-specific medical board for your state requirements. See this resource created by the Federation of State Medical Boards.