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To amend the Controlled Substances Act to allow for the use of telehealth in substance use disorder treatment, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow telehealth evaluations as an alternative to in-person medical evaluations for prescribing controlled substances used in substance use disorder treatment. Specifically, practitioners can now conduct telehealth evaluations via audio or video communication to satisfy the initial evaluation requirement for prescribing Schedule III, IV, or V controlled substances approved by the FDA for substance use disorder treatment. The telehealth evaluation must allow for real-time, two-way interactive communication between the practitioner and patient in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK)
22 cosponsors
- Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] (D-NV)
- Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT] (R-MT)
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA)
- Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA)
- Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] (R-AK)
- Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] (R-NC)
- Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA] (D-VA)
- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
- Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI)
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR)
Actions (2)
- Oct 23, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Oct 23, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 23, 2025
Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Warner, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Lujan, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Markey, Mr. Gallego, Ms. Warren, Mr. Welch, and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Controlled Substances Act to allow for the use of telehealth in substance use disorder treatment, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Telehealth Response for E- prescribing Addiction Therapy Services Act” or the “TREATS Act”.
SEC. 2. TELEHEALTH FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT.
Section 309(e)(2) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 829(e)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)(i)—
(A) by striking “at least 1 in-person medical evaluation” and inserting the following: “at least—
“(I) 1 in-person medical evaluation”; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
“(II) for purposes of prescribing a controlled substance in schedule III, IV, or V that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of a substance use disorder, 1 telehealth evaluation of the patient; or”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(D) The term ‘telehealth evaluation’ means a medical evaluation that is conducted in accordance with applicable Federal and State laws by a practitioner (other than a pharmacist) who is at a location remote from the patient and is communicating with the patient, or a practitioner who is treating the patient, using a telecommunications system referred to in section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(m)) that includes audio-only or audio and video equipment permitting two-way, real-time interactive communication between the distant site practitioner and the patient, or the practitioner who is treating the patient.”. <all>
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