Laws Forbidding Pregnancy Discrimination in Substance Use Disorder Treatment Are Not Associated With Treatment Access

Objectives To determine if state laws that forbid substance use disorder treatment providers from refusing services based on pregnancy are associated with improved ability to secure an initial appointment for opioid use disorder treatment with methadone and buprenorphine. Methods Ten states in which a “secret shopper” study was conducted were stratified based on whether they have a law that forbids substance use disorder treatment providers from refusing to treat individuals because of pregnancy. We tested for differences in percent of pregnant versus nonpregnant callers offered an initial appointment for medication for opioid use disorder treatment between states with a law and those without. We also tested for differences in acceptance based on caller insurance type. Results Four states with 1461 callers had relevant laws; 6 states with 2495 callers did not. None of the laws apply to all providers. In both groups of states, nonpregnant callers were significantly more likely to obtain a buprenorphine appointment (75.1% vs 60.1% in states with a law, P
Source: Journal of Addiction Medicine - Category: Addiction Tags: Brief Reports Source Type: research