The volume of those who received medications for opioid use disorder at federally qualified health centers more than doubled over a recent 6-year span, results from a cross-sectional study showed.
Yet, still less than one-quarter of patients with substance use disorders received medications for opioid use disorder at one of these clinics in 2023, showing more efforts are needed to increase the availability of these treatments at federally qualified health centers, study investigators wrote in a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.
Zoe Lindenfeld, PhD, an assistant professor at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and Amanda I. Mauri, PhD, an assistant professor at New York University School of Global Public Health, explained that there is strong evidence for medications used to treat opioid use disorder —such as, buprenorphine and methadone — reducing mortality and morbidity in those with opioid use disorder.
However, there is “a scarcity of published research” on the use of medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder at federally qualified health centers despite community facilities having a “critical role” in expanding access to these medications while also serving a large proportion of patient populations that are heavily impacted by the overdose crisis, they wrote.
In the analysis, the researchers assessed data on federally qualified health centers in all 50 states to determine changes in prescribing medications used to treat opioid use disorder between 2017 and 2023 and characteristics associated with facilities that used these medications to treat a higher proportion of patients.
They found that the percentage of patients with a substance abuse disorder who received medications used to treat opioid use disorder increased from 10.01% in 2017 to 24.75% in 2023.
The percentage of patients with a substance abuse disorder given medications used to treat opioid use disorder showed positive associations with the percentage of patients who had a substance abuse disorder (B = 0.77; 95% CI, 0.43-1.11) and those with HIV (B = 0.1; 95% CI, 0-0.21) and negative associations with the proportion of patients not identifying as white (B = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.22-0.08) and those experiencing homelessness (B = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.13-0.01).
Lindenfeld and Mauri explained that efforts aimed at improving access to medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder at federally qualified health centers should particularly target facilities that serve a large proportion of nonwhite patients and patients experiencing homelessness.
“Populations that may face additional barriers to receiving [medications for opioid use disorder],” they wrote.
The researchers acknowledged their inability to identify the type of medications prescribed at each health center due to limitations of the underlying data.
They concluded that policymakers should prioritize strategies to enhance access to medications for opioid use disorder, like “providing staff education and training; reviewing state policies, such as prior authorization, that may impede access to [medications for opioid use disorder]; and leveraging opioid settlement funds to support [adoption].”