TY - JOUR
T1 - Barriers to Buprenorphine Expansion in Ohio
T2 - A Time-Elapsed Qualitative Study
AU - Molfenter, Todd
AU - Fitzgerald, Maureen
AU - Jacobson, Nora
AU - McCarty, Dennis
AU - Quanbeck, Andrew
AU - Zehner, Mark
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2019/5/27
Y1 - 2019/5/27
N2 - Buprenorphine partial opioid agonist pharmacotherapy, a key treatment for opioid use disorders (OUDs), is underutilized in the United States. Qualitative interviews, conducted in 2012/2013 and repeated in 2015, identified systemic barriers to providing buprenorphine treatment in Ohio. A representative sample of Ohio’s Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) county boards (n = 18) was selected based on percentage of OUD admissions, density of buprenorphine prescribers, and county board area population. Boards reported that the barriers to the use of buprenorphine in 2012/2013 included (1) negative attitudes toward the use of buprenorphine among substance use disorder treatment providers; (2) a lack of prescribers; and (3) lack of funding. The 2015 interviews suggested that the lack of prescribers surpassed lack of funding as the main impediment to buprenorphine expansion. Negative provider attitudes were no longer problematic. Concerns about buprenorphine diversion, however, had emerged as a new barrier. This article offers recommendations for future policy efforts to overcome these barriers and expand the use of evidence-based opioid treatments. It highlights the need for payers and policymakers to increase the number of buprenorphine prescribers to make best use of funding available to fight the opioid epidemic.
AB - Buprenorphine partial opioid agonist pharmacotherapy, a key treatment for opioid use disorders (OUDs), is underutilized in the United States. Qualitative interviews, conducted in 2012/2013 and repeated in 2015, identified systemic barriers to providing buprenorphine treatment in Ohio. A representative sample of Ohio’s Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) county boards (n = 18) was selected based on percentage of OUD admissions, density of buprenorphine prescribers, and county board area population. Boards reported that the barriers to the use of buprenorphine in 2012/2013 included (1) negative attitudes toward the use of buprenorphine among substance use disorder treatment providers; (2) a lack of prescribers; and (3) lack of funding. The 2015 interviews suggested that the lack of prescribers surpassed lack of funding as the main impediment to buprenorphine expansion. Negative provider attitudes were no longer problematic. Concerns about buprenorphine diversion, however, had emerged as a new barrier. This article offers recommendations for future policy efforts to overcome these barriers and expand the use of evidence-based opioid treatments. It highlights the need for payers and policymakers to increase the number of buprenorphine prescribers to make best use of funding available to fight the opioid epidemic.
KW - Buprenorphine
KW - evidence-based practices
KW - opioid use disorders
KW - substance use disorders
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061280016&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85061280016&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/02791072.2019.1566583
DO - 10.1080/02791072.2019.1566583
M3 - Article
C2 - 30732542
AN - SCOPUS:85061280016
SN - 0279-1072
VL - 51
SP - 272
EP - 279
JO - Journal of psychoactive drugs
JF - Journal of psychoactive drugs
IS - 3
ER -