Characteristics and Prescribing Practices of Clinicians Recently Waivered to Prescribe Buprenorphine for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Background And Aims: Expanding access to medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine is a cornerstone of the opioid crisis response, yet buprenorphine remains underutilized. Research has identified multiple barriers to prescribing buprenorphine. This study aimed to examine clinician characteristics, prescribing practices and barriers and incentives to prescribing buprenorphine among clinicians with a federal Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA) waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment.

Design: Electronic survey of 4225 clinicians conducted between March and April 2018.

Setting: United States.

Participants: Clinicians obtaining an initial federal DATA waiver or an increase in authorized patient limit to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment in 2017.

Measurements: Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression examined clinician characteristics, prescribing practices and primary barriers and incentives to prescribing buprenorphine or prescribing at or near the authorized patient limit.

Findings: Among respondents, 75.5% had prescribed buprenorphine since obtaining a DATA waiver; the mean (standard deviation) number of patients treated in the past month was 26.6 (40.3), and 13.1% of providers were prescribing at or near their patient limit in the past month. Lack of patient demand, cited by 19.4% of clinicians, was the most common primary barrier to prescribing buprenorphine or prescribing to the authorized patient limit, followed by time constraints in practice (14.6%) and insurance reimbursement, prior authorization or other insurance requirements (13.2%). Increased patient demand (22.2%), institutional support for buprenorphine treatment (12.5%) and increased reimbursement (12.2%) were the most endorsed primary incentives for buprenorphine prescribing. Multivariable logistic regression models identified multiple clinician characteristics associated with buprenorphine prescribing and prescribing at or near the authorized patient limit.

Conclusions: US clinicians recently waivered to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment appear to prescribe well below their patient limit, and many do not prescribe at all.