Telemedicine increases access to buprenorphine initiation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Federal regulatory changes during the COVID-19 pandemic allow buprenorphine to be prescribed without an initial in-person evaluation. Prior to COVID-19, numerous barriers limited broad uptake of buprenorphine among people who use drugs at the system, provider, and patient levels, including lack of available DATA 2000 waivered clinicians to prescribe, stigma, and competing livelihood priorities. As two harm reduction primary care programs in New York State that care for people who use drugs and offer buprenorphine, one rural (Ithaca) and one urban (Manhattan), we have rapidly adopted telemedicine to initiate buprenorphine treatment.

Source: Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment - January 15, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Linda Wang, Jeffrey Weiss, Elizabeth Bogel Ryan, Justine Waldman, Stacey Rubin, Judy L. Griffin Source Type: research