Trial reportSubstance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2025
Barriers and facilitators to scaling up medications for opioid use disorder in Kentucky: qualitative perspectives of treatment organization staff.
Trial report in Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04111939 (HEALing Communities Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
HEALing Communities Study: Developing and Testing an Integrated Approach to Address the Opioid Crisis
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Analysis of the Costs and Reach of Transportation Services to Reduce Barriers to Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) Treatment: Evidence from the Kentucky HEALing Communities Study.Research square · 2025Article
- Perspectives on medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) access and service delivery among a community sample of people who use opioids in Los Angeles.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnderutilization of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) remains a persistent obstacle to addressing the opioid epidemic. This study explores MOUD agency experiences with patient census growth as well as multi-level barriers and facilitators to expanding MOUD from the perspectives of agency staff.
methodsSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 66 employees representing 30 MOUD agencies in eight Kentucky counties in the United States from December 2022 to June 2023 as part of the HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-term®) Communities Study in Kentucky (HCS-KY). Interviews were conducted prior to the development of partnerships to implement strategies focused on expanding MOUD census and increasing MOUD retention. Facility administrators/directors, prescribers, and clinicians were prioritized for recruitment, but agencies could identify other staff to participate. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. A consensus-based approach to coding and thematic analysis was used.
resultsAlthough some agencies had a fairly static number of patients, most described recent experiences with modest growth in MOUD census and the ability to provide same day/next day MOUD. Multi-level factors, including organizational, patient, and community factors, were perceived to impact MOUD census. Organizational characteristics impacting growth included the physical space of the clinic and staffing. Organizational policies in some agencies constrained treatment retention, while other agencies implemented innovations to better meet patients' needs. Patients often encountered numerous obstacles to treatment initiation and retention, including limited access to transportation, technology, stable housing, and childcare. These patient-level barriers often reflected community characteristics, while community stigma also impeded MOUD growth.
conclusionsAlthough some degree of growth in MOUD has occurred, multiple barriers are impeding further increases in treatment initiation and retention. Overcoming some barriers would likely require policy changes related to financing and regulation, while other barriers would require community-level efforts to decrease stigma and greater community investment in infrastructure, such as transportation and housing.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04111939. Registered 30 September 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04111939 .
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