Opioid Awareness Requirement for CME
Explanation of Requirement
Podiatrists renewing registration with the DEA after June 27, 2023, must satisfy a one-time 8-hour requirement of CME related to the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders before renewing their DEA controlled substance registration.
This requirement is a result of federal Omnibus legislation passed in December 2022 and is called the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act.
Approved Content Providers
According to the MATE Act, CME to meet the requirement must come from providers approved by DEA. The list of approved organizations can be found via this link to their document.
In the bill, the DEA failed to mention podiatrists and left the APMA off of its list of approved providers, which has caused some confusion in the podiatric community. The APMA is addressing this with DEA. For podiatrists licensed in Texas this is not a major issue as we accept CME related to podiatry from several sources approved by the DEA.
APMA has also provided links to free American Medical Association approved online training. Under TDLR’s Podiatry rule 130.44, podiatrists have many options for CME to comply:
(f) A licensee shall receive credit for each hour of training for non-podiatric medical sponsored meetings that are relative to podiatric medicine and department approved. The department may assign credit for hospital grand rounds, hospital CME programs, corporate sponsored meetings, and meetings sponsored by the American Medical Association, the orthopedic community, the American Diabetes Association, the Nursing Association, the Physical Therapy Association, and others if approved.
For the purposes of this requirement, the sources of CME listed by the DEA in their MATE document that are not already listed in our podiatric rules are approved for compliance with this 8-hour opioid educational requirement. Another DEA CME resource are courses approved by the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). A scan of ACCME’s website showed over 1600 providers nationally accredited directly or accredited by a organization recognized and approved as a CME provider by ACCME. For example, hospital and university systems in Texas are listed and these would be approved by DEA as well as fall under TDLR’s rules as CME providers.
Crossover TDLR CME Credit
Additionally, courses taken prior to December 31, 2022, by providers listed on the DEA document will count. Courses can be completed incrementally, in person or online. Since podiatrists have been required to take opioid awareness courses for several years now, from providers that are possibly listed in the ACCME database or other listed entity, you may have already complied.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is required when I renew my registration with DEA?
Podiatrists renewing their registration with DEA will check a box attesting that they have taken the required eight hours of Opioid related CME sometime prior to their renewal.
Is this required to renew my Texas Podiatry License?
No. This is a federal requirement if you prescribe controlled substances.
Will these courses count toward my Texas CME requirements for renewal?
Yes.
Will recent graduates need to do this?
We anticipate not. Podiatrists will be added to the list of Group 2 school list in the DEA bulletin. This will affirm that Podiatrists graduating within 5 years of June 27, 2023 will not need to take any extra CME to comply.
Course Provider Links
Approved courses may be found via the following links:
