II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2235 

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to require physicians and other 

prescribers of controlled substances to complete training on treating 

and managing patients with opioid and other substance use disorders, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2021 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) 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 require physicians and other prescribers of controlled substances to 

complete training on treating and managing patients 

with opioid and other substance use disorders, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medication Access and 

5 Training Expansion Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘MATE Act of 

6 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING PRESCRIBERS OF CONTROLLED SUB2 STANCES TO COMPLETE TRAINING ON 

3 TREATING AND MANAGING PATIENTS WITH 

4 OPIOID AND OTHER SUBSTANCE USE DIS5 ORDERS. 

6 Section 303 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

7 U.S.C. 823) is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(l) REQUIRED TRAINING FOR PRESCRIBERS ON

10 TREATING AND MANAGING PATIENTS WITH OPIOID AND

11 OTHER SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection ap13 plies— 

14 ‘‘(A) with respect to any practitioner who 

15 is licensed under State law to prescribe con16 trolled substances and is not a veterinarian; and 

17 ‘‘(B) beginning with the first registration 

18 or renewal of registration by the practitioner 

19 under this section occurring not less than 180 

20 days after the date of enactment of the Medica21 tion Access and Training Expansion Act of 

22 2021. 

23 ‘‘(2) TRAINING REQUIRED.—As a condition on 

24 registration under this section to dispense controlled 

25 substances in schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney 


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1 General shall require any practitioner described in 

2 paragraph (1)(A) to meet the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) If the practitioner is a physician, the 

4 practitioner shall meet 1 or more of the fol5 lowing conditions: 

6 ‘‘(i) The physician holds a board cer7 tification in addiction psychiatry or addic8 tion medicine from the American Board of 

9 Medical Specialties. 

10 ‘‘(ii) The physician holds a board cer11 tification from the American Board of Ad12 diction Medicine. 

13 ‘‘(iii) The physician holds a board cer14 tification in addiction medicine from the 

15 American Osteopathic Association. 

16 ‘‘(iv) With respect to the treatment 

17 and management of patients with opioid 

18 and other substance use disorders, includ19 ing the appropriate clinical use of any drug 

20 approved or authorized by the Food and 

21 Drug Administration for the treatment of 

22 a substance use disorder, the physician has 

23 completed not less than 8 hours of training 

24 (through classroom situations, seminars at 

25 professional society meetings, electronic 


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1 communications, or otherwise) that is pro2 vided by— 

3 ‘‘(I) the American Society of Ad4 diction Medicine, the American Acad5 emy of Addiction Psychiatry, the 

6 American Medical Association, the 

7 American Osteopathic Association, the 

8 American Psychiatric Association, the 

9 American Academy of Hospice and 

10 Palliative Medicine, the American 

11 Academy of Pain Medicine, or any 

12 other organization accredited by the 

13 Accreditation Council for Continuing 

14 Medical Education (referred to in this 

15 subsection as the ‘ACCME’); 

16 ‘‘(II) any organization accredited 

17 by a State medical society accreditor 

18 recognized by the ACCME; or 

19 ‘‘(III) any organization accred20 ited by the American Osteopathic As21 sociation to provide continuing med22 ical education. 

23 ‘‘(v) The physician graduated in good 

24 standing from an accredited school of 

25 allopathic medicine or osteopathic medicine 


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1 in the United States during the 5-year pe2 riod immediately preceding the date on 

3 which the physician first registers or re4 news under this section and has success5 fully completed a comprehensive allopathic 

6 or osteopathic medicine curriculum or ac7 credited medical residency that included 

8 not less than 8 hours of training on treat9 ing and managing patients with opioid and 

10 other substance use disorders, including 

11 the appropriate clinical use of all drugs ap12 proved or authorized by the Food and 

13 Drug Administration for the treatment of 

14 a substance use disorder. 

15 ‘‘(B) If the practitioner is not a physician, 

16 the practitioner shall meet 1 or more of the fol17 lowing conditions: 

18 ‘‘(i) The practitioner has completed 

19 not less than 8 hours of training with re20 spect to the treatment and medication 

21 management of patients with opioid and 

22 other substance use disorders (through 

23 classroom situations, seminars at profes24 sional society meetings, electronic commu25 nications, or otherwise) provided by the 


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1 American Society of Addiction Medicine, 

2 the American Academy of Addiction Psy3 chiatry, the American Medical Association, 

4 the American Osteopathic Association, the 

5 American Nurses Credentialing Center, the 

6 American Psychiatric Association, the 

7 American Association of Nurse Practi8 tioners, the American Academy of Physi9 cian Assistants, the American Academy of 

10 Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the Amer11 ican Academy of Pain Medicine, the Amer12 ican Dental Association, or any other orga13 nization that the Secretary determines is 

14 appropriate for purposes of this clause. 

15 ‘‘(ii) The practitioner graduated in 

16 good standing from an accredited physician 

17 assistant school, an accredited school of 

18 advanced practice nursing, or an accred19 ited dental school in the United States 

20 during the 5-year period immediately pre21 ceding the date on which the practitioner 

22 first registers or renews under this section 

23 and has successfully completed a com24 prehensive physician assistant, advanced 

25 practice nursing, or dental curriculum that 


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1 included not less than 8 hours of training 

2 on treating and managing patients with 

3 opioid and other substance use disorders, 

4 including the appropriate clinical use of all 

5 drugs approved or authorized by the Food 

6 and Drug Administration for the treatment 

7 of a substance use disorder. 

8 ‘‘(3) ONE-TIME TRAINING.—The Attorney Gen9 eral shall not require any practitioner to complete 

10 the training described in clause (iv) or (v) of para11 graph (2)(A) or clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph 

12 (2)(B) more than once. 

13 ‘‘(4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

14 this subsection shall be construed to prevent a prac15 titioner from using the same training to satisfy the 

16 training requirement under this subsection and for 

17 another purpose, such as satisfying State licensing 

18 requirements.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. PRACTITIONER EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

20 Title V of the Public Health Service Act is amended 

21 by inserting after section 509 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 290bb–2) the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 510. PRACTITIONER EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

25 program to award grants to eligible entities to expand the 


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1 integration of substance use disorder education, including 

2 training on treatment and medication management, into 

3 the standard curriculum of relevant health care and health 

4 services education programs, thereby expanding the num5 ber of practitioners who deliver high-quality, evidence6 based substance use disorder treatment. 

7 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

8 a grant under this section, an entity shall be— 

9 ‘‘(1) a private nonprofit or public professional 

10 association representing health care professionals in 

11 the field of medicine, physician assistants, nursing, 

12 dentistry, pharmacy, social work, psychology, mar13 riage and family therapy, or health services adminis14 tration; or 

15 ‘‘(2) a private nonprofit or public entity that is 

16 a university, college, or other professional school. 

17 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

18 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro19 priated such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

20 years 2022 through 2027.’’. 

Æ 


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