WTF? –
July 21, 2023 – The research, published Friday in JAMA Health Forum, underscores two major challenges: allowing U.S. health care providers to provide addiction medications, and then convincing them to actually use the medications to treat patients.
“The number of people getting the modified waiver was going up, but the number of people getting buprenorphine prescriptions really wasn’t changing,” said Chris Jones, the study’s lead author and a longtime federal addiction policy official currently serving as director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s injury prevention division. “This survey allowed us to dig into: All right, so you’ve taken the step to get the modified waiver. What are the other challenges that you’re finding with why you’re not prescribing?”
The new research comes on the heels of several government actions that have made it significantly easier to provide buprenorphine, the only medication available outside a specialized clinic that treats opioid addiction by helping to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
