Treatment Approaches for Opioid Use Disorder Offered in US Substance Use Treatment Facilities

Medication and psychosocial treatments are the primary treatment approaches for substance use disorders (SUDs). For opioid use disorder (OUD), medications for OUD (MOUD) can reduce opioid-related harms. But aside from contingency management, there is little evidence that psychosocial treatments alone or combined with MOUD affect OUD treatment outcomes. Federally certified opioid treatment programs (OTPs) are the only outpatient facilities licensed to treat OUD with methadone, yet access to OTPs is limited and OUD is more commonly treated outside of OTPs. Additionally, other SUDs and mental disorders commonly co-occur with OUD but are often untreated, which may negatively affect OUD outcomes. To characterize availability and gaps in services offered by outpatient facilities that treat OUD nationally, this study compared medication and psychosocial treatments for OUD, as well as treatments offered at OTP and non-OTP facilities for commonly co-occurring SUDs and mental disorders.