Prevalence of Opioid Prescribing, Diagnoses of Opioid Use Disorder, Treatment Patterns, and Costs Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries

Nationally, 33% of Medicare Part D beneficiaries received a prescription opioid in 2016, with several states, many of them with large rural populations, having higher rates. The elderly are at serious risk for opioid dependence or other harms due to higher prescribing patterns. However, there is a lack of literature on the rural-urban difference in the use and misuse of prescription opioids. Understanding these differences will help rural areas better target prevention and treatment options.

This project addressed opioid prescribing rates among Medicare beneficiaries, using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and described differences in socioeconomic, health, and functional status of beneficiaries using prescription opioids and the general population using bivariate and logistic regression analyses. The impact of opioid use and medication-assisted therapy on health services utilization and costs were assessed using difference in differences models.

Publications

• Opioid Use Among Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
  Policy Brief
  Maine Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 01/2025
  This study used the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) to address the lack of literature on the rural-urban difference in the use and misuse of prescription opioids. Over years 2010-2017, rural community and facility-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries were more likely to receive opioid prescriptions than their urban counterparts.