The DEA MATE Act 8-Hour Training: Who Needs It and When

If you hold a DEA registration and prescribe controlled substances, you have probably seen a checkbox on your DEA form asking you to attest that you have completed an eight-hour training on opioid and other substance use disorders. That is the MATE Act requirement. The good news: for most prescribers it is a one-time task, not something you repeat at every renewal. Here is who needs it, how to satisfy it, and why 2026 is a common year to run into it.

What the MATE Act requires

The Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act was enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, signed into law on December 29, 2022. It created a new, one-time requirement that DEA-registered practitioners complete at least eight hours of training on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. The requirement took effect on June 27, 2023.

The eight hours do not have to be completed in a single sitting. Training can be cumulative and can come in different formats — live, online, enduring materials, or conference sessions — and hours can be added up across multiple activities to reach the eight-hour total.

Who needs it

The requirement is broad. It applies to essentially every DEA-registered practitioner authorized to prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances, regardless of prescriber type:

• Physicians (MDs and DOs)
• Nurse practitioners and physician assistants
• Dentists and other DEA registrants who prescribe controlled substances

There is one exception: practitioners who are solely veterinarians are not subject to the requirement.

Who is already deemed to have satisfied it

Some practitioners are treated as having already met the training standard and do not need to complete additional hours:

• Board-certified addiction specialists: physicians board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry from the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Board of Addiction Medicine, or the American Osteopathic Association.
• Recent graduates: practitioners who graduated within five years of June 27, 2023 from a qualifying U.S. medical, osteopathic, dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing program whose curriculum included at least eight hours of qualifying training on substance use disorders and safe prescribing.
• Prior training, including the old X-waiver: relevant training you completed earlier — even before the law took effect — counts, and so does the training you took for a former DATA-2000 (X-waiver) buprenorphine waiver.

Even if you fall into one of these groups, you still complete the attestation on your DEA form. Everyone applying for a new registration or renewing after June 27, 2023 encounters the checkbox and must complete it, affirming that they meet the requirement. (Recent graduates, for example, check a box indicating they graduated within the past five years and have therefore satisfied it.)

How you satisfy it: a one-time attestation

You satisfy the MATE Act by checking a box on your online DEA registration form. This happens at your initial DEA registration or at your next registration renewal on or after June 27, 2023, whichever comes first. You do not submit training certificates to the DEA at the time of attestation — but it is a good idea to keep your own records in case you ever need them.

Why 2026 matters

DEA registrations run on a three-year cycle, so a large group of prescribers renews in any given year — and 2026 is a common renewal year. If your last renewal happened before the June 27, 2023 effective date, or if you are registering for the first time, your 2026 renewal may be the point at which you first encounter the attestation and need your eight hours in hand. If you already attested at a renewal after June 27, 2023, you are done and will not see it again.

A federal floor, not a state CME requirement

The MATE Act is a federal DEA registration requirement, not a state continuing medical education (CME) mandate. It is separate from — and in addition to — any CME your state medical board requires to renew your license. Many states impose their own opioid or controlled-substance prescribing education requirements, and unlike the one-time MATE Act attestation, those state requirements often recur at every license renewal. Satisfying the federal MATE Act does not automatically satisfy a state requirement, so it is worth confirming your state's specific opioid or pain-management CME rules on their own.

We keep those state-by-state details current in our renewal guides: