Association Between the Number of Certified Buprenorphine Prescribers and the Quantity of Buprenorphine Prescriptions: Evidence from 2015 to 2017

Abstract

Increasing access to buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder is a key strategy for reducing overdoses.1 However, treatment capacity is limited because buprenorphine can only be prescribed by certified providers. To expand capacity, recent federal initiatives have increased the physician patient cap (which previously rose from 30 to 100 patients) to 275 patients, and have allowed nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to obtain waivers.2 Previous research has shown that expanding buprenorphine prescribers for Medicaid populations leads to more buprenorphine prescriptions3; however, it is unclear if this relationship holds across all payer groups.