Obstetrician-gynecologists able to prescribe buprenorphine more likely located in the suburbs<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Jan. 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Fewer than 2 percent of obstetrician-gynecologists who accept Medicaid are able to prescribe buprenorphine, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in JAMA Network Open<\/em><\/em>.<\/p>\n Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako, from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues assessed the prevalence and geographic distribution of U.S. obstetrician-gynecologists who can prescribe buprenorphine (called X-waivered) in 2019. Data from 31,211 obstetrician-gynecologists identified from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician Compare data set were linked to the Drug Addiction Treatment Act buprenorphine-waived clinician list.<\/p>\n The researchers found that only 560 of the identified obstetrician-gynecologists (1.8 percent) were X-waivered. The odds of being X-waivered were higher among obstetrician-gynecologists in counties with less than 5 percent uninsured residents (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.59) compared with providers in counties with greater than 15 percent uninsured residents. Obstetrician-gynecologists in suburban counties (e.g., urban population of \u00e2\u0089\u00a520,000 and adjacent to a metropolitan area) were more likely to be X-waivered (aOR, 1.85) compared with those in metropolitan counties. Obstetrician-gynecologists in states with a neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) rate of \u00e2\u0089\u00a515 per 1,000 births also had higher odds of being X-waivered (aOR, 4.94) compared with states with an NAS rate of five per 1,000 births or less. X-waivers were more likely among obstetrician-gynecologists without hospital privileges (aOR, 1.32).<\/p>\n “Results of this study suggest that an opportunity exists for obstetrician-gynecologists to contribute to expanding the workforce of clinicians who can prescribe buprenorphine to further address the opioid epidemic’s association with maternal and infant morbidity and mortality,” the authors write.<\/p>\n