FAR TOO FEW PEOPLE WITH opioid addiction have had access to the most effective treatments in recent years, a new study suggests.
Getting people into high-quality, evidence-based addiction treatment is seen as key to curbing the nation's deadly opioid epidemic. The new study,
published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open, indicates that treatment using buprenorphine or methadone – medications that can help people manage opioid withdrawal – is by far the most effective way to prevent overdoses and hospitalizations, but that people were much less likely to have access to these medications than to other treatments.
The analysis included nearly 41,000 people with opioid use disorder who had commercial health insurance or Medicare Advantage plans from approximately 2015 to 2017 –
three years when nearly 123,000 people died of opioid overdoses. The study found that just 12.5% of patients were treated with buprenorphine or methadone, compared with 59.3% who received outpatient counseling only and 15.8% who went into residential rehabilitation or detox services.
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Overall, 1.7% of patients overdosed and 1.9% were hospitalized or had visited an ER within three months. But compared with patients who received no treatment, those treated with buprenorphine or methadone were 76% less likely to overdose within three months and 59% less likely to overdose within a year, the analysis showed. They were also 32% less likely to be hospitalized or go to the ER within three months, and 26% less likely to have an acute care episode 12 months later.
None of the other treatment methods were associated with significant declines in both overdoses and acute care at the three- and 12-month marks.
