ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence reports2022
Impact of reduced restrictions on buprenorphine prescribing during COVID-19 among patients in a community-based treatment program.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Expanding Access to Addiction Medicine Specialist Care in Regional New South Wales, Australia Through Telehealth.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Multi-level barriers and facilitators to buprenorphine use in Ontario, Canada: a qualitative study using the theoretical domains framework.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2025Article
- Induction of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care.Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM · 2025Article
- Article
- Identifying and responding to policy-related barriers, facilitators, and misunderstandings in the HEALing communities study: A community-driven approach.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- Patient perceptions of and experiences with stigma using telehealth for opioid use disorder treatment: a qualitative analysis.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Protocol for the development of a consensus practice guideline To address clinical and regulatory barriers to buprenorphine dispensing in community pharmacy.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- "It didn't hurt me": patients' and providers' perspectives on unsupervised take-home doses, drug diversion, and overdose risks in the provision of medication for opioid use disorder during COVID-19 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Project CHARIOT: study protocol for a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation study of comprehensive tele-harm reduction for engagement of people who inject drugs in HIV prevention services.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2024Article
- Real-World Dispensing of Buprenorphine in California during Prepandemic and Pandemic Periods.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Adaptation of the Tele-Harm Reduction intervention to promote initiation and retention in buprenorphine treatment among people who inject drugs: a retrospective cohort study.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- Perceptions of COVID-19 risk during the pandemic: perspectives from people seeking medication for opioid use disorder.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- Mobile service delivery in response to the opioid epidemic in Philadelphia.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2023Article
- Availability of telehealth-based services at syringe services programs under the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- "Come try it out. Get your foot in the door:" Exploring patient perspectives on low-barrier treatment for opioid use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Changes in buprenorphine visits in frontier and remote locations: Effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2023Article
- Overall and Telehealth Addiction Treatment Utilization by Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status in California After COVID-19 Policy Changes.JAMA health forum · 2023Article
- Trends and Characteristics of Buprenorphine-Involved Overdose Deaths Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Use of and Retention on Video, Telephone, and In-Person Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic.JAMA network open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Medications such as buprenorphine are considered the gold standard for the treatment of opioid use disorders. This study aimed to determine whether less restrictive buprenorphine prescribing practices during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted retention in and adherence to buprenorphine among patients accessing treatment from 2018-2020 at a community-based syringe services program. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we compared retention in treatment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, with relaxed restrictions acting as the intervention in a natural experiment, we conducted a sub-analysis of "continuity participants" who accessed treatment services both before and during the COVID-19 period. Records of 418 historical control patients treated with buprenorphine before COVID-19 were compared to 88 patients enrolled during COVID-19 (n=43 remote telemedicine and n=45 remote provider with patient on-site). Cox proportional hazards regressions were used to assess risk factors for treatment discontinuation. The sub-analysis used proportion of days covered (PDC) differences before and during COVID-19 (n=164) for a paired analysis in a nonparametric bootstrap test. Results: The risk of discontinuation was 71% lower in those accessing remote telemedicine during COVID-19 (HR=0.29; CI: 0.18, 0.47) and 51% lower in those accessing their remote provider onsite during COVID-19 (HR=0.49; CI:0.31, 0.77), compared to the historical control group. The average PDC did not significantly differ before and during COVID-19 (difference=2.4%; CI:-0.6%, 5.3%). Conclusions: The risk of discontinuing treatment was lower in both COVID-19 treatment groups compared to historical controls. Less restrictive buprenorphine prescribing guidelines during COVID-19 led to improved retention in care over 6-months.
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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.