Providers Still Hesitate to Prescribe Buprenorphine for Addiction

Public health experts and the Biden administration have long identified increasing access to addiction medications as a key pillar of the country’s opioid crisis response. Currently, only two drugs are approved to treat opioid addiction: methadone and buprenorphine. However, significant challenges remain before most American clinicians feel comfortable treating patients with buprenorphine, according to a new study.

The research, published last week in JAMA Health Forum, underscores two major challenges: allowing U.S. health care providers to provide addiction medications, and then convincing them to actually use the medications to treat patients. Read more from STAT News here.