Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act 2.0 of 2026

This legislation aims to significantly expand access to methadone for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) by establishing an alternative care model. It achieves this by waiving current federal requirements, allowing the Attorney General to register specific practitioners to prescribe methadone for dispensing through pharmacies. Under this bill, eligible practitioners must be licensed to prescribe controlled substances and hold specific addiction medicine or psychiatry board certifications , or be otherwise deemed qualified by the Secretary. Prescriptions must be exclusively electronic , for liquid or dispersible tablet formulations , and comply with federal and state quantity limits. This new dispensing method is intended to supplement, not replace, care received through traditional opioid treatment programs. Key safeguards include requirements for practitioners to obtain informed consent from patients, detailing differences in confidentiality protections between pharmacy and clinic dispensing. States are also granted the authority to opt out of this program, allowing them to cease or revoke registrations within their borders. Furthermore, the bill explicitly permits the provision of methadone treatment through telemedicine under this new model. To ensure oversight, the Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator will be required to submit annual reports to Congress. These reports will detail the number of registered practitioners per state, any state opt-out requests, instances of registration revocations, and the volume of methadone ordered by pharmacies under the new provisions.