ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2020
Pharmacy-based methadone dispensing and drive time to methadone treatment in five states within the United States: A cross-sectional study.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Management of opioid use disorder, opioid withdrawal, and opioid overdose prevention in hospitalized adults: A systematic review of existing guidelines.Journal of hospital medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Management of opioid use disorder and associated conditions among hospitalized adults: A Consensus Statement from the Society of Hospital Medicine.Journal of hospital medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Opioid treatment program and community pharmacy collaboration for methadone maintenance treatment: results from a feasibility clinical trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Trial
- "It's so much easier for them to just come to us": a qualitative study examining the implementation of mobile methadone treatment serving a residential SUD treatment program.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- "How are we going to be able to pull that off?": staff perspectives on the early implementation of mobile medication units in New York State.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- Correlates of Rural Naloxone Possession Among People Who Use Drugs: A Multi-State Cross-Sectional Analysis.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2026Article
- Envisioning a Humane and Accessible US Methadone Treatment System: Generating Policy and Practice Recommendations From the Liberate Methadone Movement.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Patterns of Dental Health Care Utilization 18 Months Before and 36 Months After Initiation of Index Medications for Opioid Use Disorder.Journal of addiction medicine · 2026Article
- "Talk About It!" Shared Decision-Making for Methadone and Buprenorphine Initiation: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Conversation Aid via Community-Based Participatory Research.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2026Article
- Barriers and facilitators to methadone dispensing for opioid use disorder in community pharmacies: A scoping review.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Review
- Travel Time to Methadone Treatment Via Personal Vehicle vs Public Transit.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- De-implementation of inequitable methadone policy and treatment: lessons learned from COVID-19 to support a more just methadone treatment system in the United States.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Implementation challenges and opportunities in decentralized methadone service delivery.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Characterizing 'Atmosphere': exploring determinants of regular service attendance amongst integrated supervised consumption site clients in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Implementation Challenges and Opportunities in Decentralized Methadone Service Delivery.Research square · 2025Article
- The Implementation Climate for Integrating Buprenorphine Prescribing into Rural Primary Care.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Spatial accessibility of substance use disorder treatment programs, compared with other health care facilities, in New York State, 2024.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2025Article
- Pilot of Methadone for Recently Incarcerated People with Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Opioid Use in South Africa.Journal of correctional health care : the official journal of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care · 2025Article
- Methadone-involved overdose deaths in urban and rural communities before and after the public health emergency flexibilities for methadone take-home doses.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2025Article
- Disparities in Opioid Agonist Treatment Accessibility for Priority Populations in New South Wales, Australia.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWithin the United States, there is a shortage of opioid treatment programs (OTPs), facilities which dispense methadone for opioid use disorder. It is unknown how pharmacy-based methadone dispensing, as available internationally, could affect methadone access. We aimed to compare drive times to the nearest OTP with drive times to the nearest chain pharmacy in urban and rural census tracts.
methodsCross-sectional geospatial analysis of 2018 OTP location data and 2017 pharmacy location data. We included census tracts with non-zero population in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia, states with highest rates of opioid overdose deaths. Our outcome was minimum drive time in minutes from census tract mean center of population to the nearest dispensing facility.
resultsAmong 7918 census tracts, median (IQR) drive time to OTPs increased from urban to increasingly rural census tract classification [16.1 min (10.2-25.9) to 48.4 min (34.0-63.3);p < .001]. Median (IQR) drive time to OTPs was greater than drive time to chain pharmacies among all census tracts: 19.6 min (11.6-35.1) versus 4.4 min (2.9-7.7) respectively; p < .001. The median (IQR) difference in drive time was greater for increasingly rural census tracts [11.5 min (6.1-19.2) to 35.2 min (19.6-49.7); p <.001] with pharmacy-based methadone dispensing.
conclusionRural census tracts have disproportionately long drive times to OTPs. Drawing from policies to increase methadone access in countries like Canada and Australia, this geographic methadone disparity could be mitigated through implementation of pharmacy-based methadone dispensing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.