Same-day vs. delayed buprenorphine prescribing and patient retention in an office-based buprenorphine treatment program

Buprenorphine is a safe and effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), yet a small fraction of people with OUD receive it, and rates of retention in treatment are suboptimal. Dropout most commonly occurs within 30 days of treatment initiation. Therefore, research needs to investigate modifiable factors contributing to early dropout. Requiring multiple visits for evaluation prior to providing an initial buprenorphine prescription (delayed prescription) may lead to more early dropout when compared with prescribing at the first medical visit (same-day prescription).
Source: Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: research