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Young Adults Filled Fewer Buprenorphine Prescriptions After Pandemic Started
Buprenorphine prescriptions for young adults paid for by commercial insurance or cash, but not Medicaid, significantly decreased in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
The finding suggests “a possible unmet treatment need among this group,” researchers wrote. “The stable Medicaid prescription rate during the early pandemic demonstrates the safety net role Medicaid has played in providing access to addiction treatment.”
For the study, researchers compared outpatient prescription claims for buprenorphine for US adolescents and young adults with opioid use disorder during 2 periods: prepandemic (March-August 2019) and early pandemic (March-August 2020).
Compared with the prepandemic period, the monthly buprenorphine prescription rate increased 8.3% among adolescents aged 12 through 17 during the pandemic. However, it fell 7.5% among 18- to 24-year-olds and 5.1% among 25- to 29-year-olds.
When researchers looked at payers, they found no significant change in Medicaid-covered buprenorphine prescriptions. However, commercial insurance buprenorphine prescriptions decreased 12.9% among 18- to 24-year-olds, and 11.8% among 25- to 29-year-olds. Cash prescriptions, meanwhile, dropped 18.7% among 18- to 24-year-olds and 19.9% among 25- to 29-year-olds.
The study authors suspect economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic played a role in the downturn in opioid use disorder care.
“Young adults in their 20s are more likely than older adults to have lost a job or been unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” they wrote, “and our study demonstrates that these young adults may be more susceptible to the health consequences of these economic impacts that result in interruptions in employer-sponsored commercial insurance and financial hardship limiting individuals’ ability to pay cash for prescriptions.”
Lead author Rachel Alinsky, MD, MPH, an adolescent and addiction medicine specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore, Maryland, called on the healthcare community “to educate young adults on what their options are if they lose their insurance or have difficulty paying for their medications.”
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