Opioid Addiction Drug Underprescribed

Many physicians underprescribe the drug buprenorphine for patients with opioid addiction, according to a recent study. Findings were presented by Andrew S. Huhn, PhD, and Kelly E. Dunn, PhD, on August 3, 2017, at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Washington D.C.

According to the researchers, buprenorphine is an underutilized pharmacotherapy that can play an important role in combating the opioid epidemic. However, individuals with opioid use disorder often struggle to find physicians that prescribe buprenorphine, and many physicians who prescribe buprenorphine do not do so to capacity.
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In their study, the researchers surveyed 558 physicians across the United States in the spring and summer of 2016. The survey was hosted by Qualtrics and was distributed via the American Society for Addiction Medicine and American Medical Association.

In the survey, physicians were asked to describe their treatment setting. If physicians were not waivered or were not prescribing buprenorphine to capacity, they were asked to give reasons for not prescribing it to more patients and to identify any programs that would potentially increase their willingness to do so.

The researchers also aimed to predict factors associated with rejection of new patients and unwillingness to prescribe the treatment. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify potential reasons for physicians’ unwillingness to increase prescribing.

Results of the study indicated that the most commonly reported reasons for not prescribing buprenorphine were the lack of belief in agonist treatment, the lack of time for additional patients, and the belief that reimbursement rates are insufficient.

“This is the first study to our knowledge that descriptively quantifies the reasons that buprenorphine is underutilized and identifies programs that might increase utilization,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Huhn AS, Dunn KE. Why don’t physicians with the SAMHSA waiver prescribe buprenorphine to capacity? Paper presented at: 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association; August 3-6, 2017. Washington, DC. http://apps.apa.org/convsearch/article.aspx?id=171128&type=abstract&_ga=2.215154327.1813998005.1501848415-978626333.1497486469.