News Release
Physicians with Waivers to Prescribe Buprenorphine for Opioid Addiction Have Capacity to Treat More Patients
Sep 20, 2016
Many physicians who prescribe buprenorphine are prescribing below the patient limits historically allowed under U.S. law.
Published in: JAMA, v. 316, no. 11, Sep. 2016, p. 1211-1212
Posted on RAND.org on September 28, 2016
Buprenorphine, a medication effective in treating individuals with opioid use disorders, can be prescribed in the United States by addiction specialists or by physicians who complete an 8-hour course and obtain a US Drug Enforcement Administration waiver. Waivered prescribers have been restricted to treating up to 30 patients with an opioid use disorder concurrently; after a year, physicians could request that the limit be increased to 100 patients. Policy makers have prioritized increasing capacity to provide buprenorphine to fight the opioid epidemic but lack adequate information about how to do so effectively. Patient censuses of buprenorphine prescribers were examined to provide information on whether patient limits have been a barrier to buprenorphine treatment.
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