DEA announces MATE Act training requirement

June 26, 2023

The Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act, passed by Congress as part of the Omnibus Bill of 2022, mandates most practitioners – including oral and maxillofacial surgeons – licensed to prescribe controlled substances or who hold DEA licenses to complete eight hours of coursework on substance use disorders.

While early drafts of the legislation required coursework to be in the treatment of substance use disorders, AAOMS worked with the ADA to advocate successfully to allow for coursework to be on the safe pharmacological management of dental pain with a referral for the treatment of substance use disorders, and to allow for the ADA and AAOMS as approved organizations through which training is received. The eight hours is a one-time requirement.

AAOMS and other organizations participated in multiple listening sessions with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the DEA. AAOMS also submitted comments to SAMHSA requesting additional information and voicing concerns about approved training for compliance with the requirements.

In March, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Diversion Control Division published Requirements for training for Medication Assisted Treatment as part of the MATE Act. Additionally, SAMHSA published Recommendations for Curricular Elements in Substance Use Disorders Training. The DEA has provided these and other informational documents on its website. AAOMS also participated in a listening session with the DEA and SAMHSA in March.

Among notable points:

• Training may indeed be on the management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders and not necessarily the treatment of these patients.
• Past training – including continuing education received through one of the approved organizations prior to Dec. 29, 2022 – counts toward meeting this requirement.
• Approved organizations include the ADA and AAOMS as well as any other organization accredited by ACCME or CCEPR, among other organizations listed in the DEA and SAMHSA materials.
• Training could be in any of various formats, including classroom, seminars at professional association meetings or virtual offerings. The DEA recommends retaining some verification of completion of relevant courses. The DEA also has clarified that reading journal articles does not qualify as meeting the training requirement.
• Training does not have to occur in a single eight-hour session but can be cumulative over various sessions totaling at least eight hours.
• For practitioners who “graduated in good standing from a medical (allopathic or osteopathic), dental, physical assistant, or advanced practice nursing school within five years of June 27, 2023,” completion of a comprehensive curriculum that included the eight hours of training would satisfy the requirement. Graduation from an OMS residency within the past five years counts for the requirement. Completion of the curriculum prior to the past five years (e.g., predoctoral studies) would satisfy the requirement as long as graduation from residency was within that five-year period.
• While SAMHSA has recommended various core curricular training elements in its recommendations, these are not requirements.
• Beginning on June 27, practitioners will be required to check a box on their online DEA registration form affirming they have completed the new training requirement when completing their initial registration application or renewing their registration.

Training already required by many states may satisfy the requirements of the MATE Act. Additionally, AAOMS’s online CE offerings include at least six continuing education courses – totaling eight hours – that appear to fulfill the eight-hour requirement of the MATE Act. These are:

• Dentoalveolar Plenary: Postoperative Pain Control
• Safety and Dignity Front and Center: The Opioid Epidemic in the Time of COVID-19
• The Prescription Opioid & Heroin Crisis: An Epidemic of Addiction
• The Heroin Epidemic: Prescription Drug Abuse and Your OMS Practice
• IV Sedation of the Substance Abuse Patient
• Substance Use Disorders and Anesthesia Management

Visit AAOMS’s CE section and ADA’s CE section to explore additional opportunities.

While AAOMS continues its communications with the DEA and SAMHSA, members are strongly encouraged to contact the DEA with questions regarding qualifying courses or other matters. Email questions to the Diversion Control Division Policy Section at odlp@dea.gov or call 571-362-3260.

Questions? Email advocacy@aaoms.org.