ASAM, AANP, and AAPA Send Letter Supporting Extending Buprenorphine Prescribing Authority to NPs and PAs

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The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), and the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), who collectively represent over 350,000 clinicians, are dedicated to increasing access to and improving the quality of addiction treatment for patients across the country. With the opioid addiction and overdose crisis continuing to significantly impact the country, our organizations have partnered in an effort to assist clinicians to gain access to training and understand the federal and state policies that impact how addiction treatment is provided to its citizens. After the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) was signed into law in 2016, we quickly worked together to create free, online educational courses to provide the 24 hours of training required of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to become waivered to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction treatment.

This week, our partnership launched an additional effort to coordinate with licensure boards on disseminating information about the regulatory requirements health care professionals need to be aware of as they become waivered and begin to treat patients. The letter provides education to licensure boards on the provision of CARA that extends buprenorphine prescribing authority to NPs and PAs and asks for this information to be clearly communicated to licensed clinicians in the state. To date, over three thousand NPs and PAs have completed the required training for prescribing buprenorphine in the treatment of opioid addiction. We are encouraged by the response of our memberships to address the national need for additional access to treatment for patients, and look forward to working with state licensure boards to continue to bring these vital health care services to our communities that need them.