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Expansion of Access to MAT for OUD Stalled During Pandemic
Growth in the use of medications to treat opioid use disorder stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from RTI International.
Findings were published last week by JAMA Network Open.
RTI researchers looked specifically at buprenorphine dispensing to Medicaid beneficiaries and found that after a steady upward trend in the expansion of access to the OUD medication, use of buprenorphine for Medicaid beneficiaries flattened during the pandemic. Quarterly Medicaid state drug utilization data from all 50 states from 2018 to 2020 was reviewed to produce the study.
Researchers found that prior to the onset of COVID-19, fewer than 50% of Medicaid beneficiaries with OUD received medication to treat their disorder, but the gap had been decreasing. Average units of buprenorphine per prescription increased during the pandemic, but not enough to offset the decline in prescriptions. The study also found that in 13 states, total buprenorphine dispensed during the pandemic was significantly below pre-pandemic trends.
“Overdose deaths soared during the pandemic, and while we can’t directly link these findings to that trend, it is very concerning,” study co-author Tami Mark, PhD, an RTI senior fellow in behavioral health financing and quality measurement, said in a news release.
“Longer-duration prescriptions were a good-faith effort on the part of policymakers and clinicians to offset fewer in-person visits, but ultimately the first year of the pandemic represented a setback to progress being made in getting patients with opioid use disorder access to lifesaving medications.”
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