Who Treats Opioid Addiction in Rural America? Quantifying the Availability of Buprenorphine Services in Rural Areas

This study will investigate the extent to which physicians who practice in rural areas and have a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) waiver to prescribe buprenorphine as an office-based outpatient treatment for opioid use disorder are providing this treatment to their patients. This study will also estimate the need for office-based opioid disorder treatment in rural locations.

Publications

• Barriers Rural Physicians Face Prescribing Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder
  Journal Article
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2017
  Opioid use disorder is a serious public health problem. Management with buprenorphine is an effective medication-assisted treatment, but 60.1% of rural counties lack a physician with a Drug Enforcement Agency waiver to prescribe buprenorphine. This national study surveyed all rural physicians who have received a waiver in the United States.
• Prescribing Practices of Rural Physicians Waivered to Prescribe Buprenorphine
  Journal Article
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 06/2018
  This study finds more than 60% of rural counties don't have a physician waivered to prescribe buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.