Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42385935›Full record

ArticleJournal of substance use and addiction treatment2026

Comparison of buprenorphine treatment by virtual-only vs. traditional clinicians.

Ateev Mehrotra, Alisa B Busch, Protima Advani, Eleena Koep, Oluwayomi Akintola, Lori Uscher-Pines, Laura Ten Eyck, Andrew D Wilcock, Haiden A Huskamp

Abstract readComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of substance use and addiction treatment, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Ateev MehrotraDepartment of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown School of Public Health, 121 S Main St, Providence, RI, 02903, USA. Electronic address: ateev_mehrotra@brown.edu.
Alisa B BuschDepartment of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Protima AdvaniCenter for Health Care Research, UnitedHealth Group, 1 Health Drive, Eden Prairie, MN, 55344, USA.
Eleena KoepCenter for Health Care Research, UnitedHealth Group, 1 Health Drive, Eden Prairie, MN, 55344, USA.
Oluwayomi AkintolaCenter for Health Care Research, UnitedHealth Group, 1 Health Drive, Eden Prairie, MN, 55344, USA.
Lori Uscher-PinesRAND Corporation, 1200 S Hayes Street, Arlington, VA, 22202, USA.
Laura Ten EyckCenter for Health Care Research, UnitedHealth Group, 1 Health Drive, Eden Prairie, MN, 55344, USA.
Andrew D WilcockDepartment of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown School of Public Health, 121 S Main St, Providence, RI, 02903, USA.
Haiden A HuskampDepartment of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.

Funding

Telemedicine for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: NIDA Summer Research Internship ProgramR01DA048533 · NIDA · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI Haiden A Huskamp, Ateev Mehrotra · 2019 to 2026
$5.6M
NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA048533
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionFew patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) receive medications for OUD (MOUD), such as buprenorphine. Given that many patients, particularly those in rural communities, do not live near a clinician who prescribes MOUD, telemedicine could increase MOUD access. Some clinicians have adopted a virtual-only model of care delivery, which in theory could reach anyone. However, clinicians and policymakers are concerned about the quality of the virtual-only model.

methodsWe identified adults with commercial or Medicare Advantage coverage via UnitedHealthCare who started buprenorphine for OUD between September 2019 and December 2023. We compared the care provided by virtual-only vs. traditional clinicians.

resultsThere were 17,538 buprenorphine inductions during the study period, of which 568 (3.2%) were conducted by a virtual-only clinician. There were few substantive differences in who used virtual-only care. For example, patients initiating buprenorphine with virtual-only vs. traditional clinicians were equally likely to live in urban areas (82.6% vs. 80.4%, p = 0.53). Patients initiating buprenorphine with virtual-only clinicians had more visits in the 6 months after the initiation (8.5 vs. 5.7 visits, p < 0.01), were more likely to be on buprenorphine at 6 months (59.0% vs. 52.9%, p < 0.01), but had fewer days of continuous buprenorphine treatment (70.7 vs. 81.9, p < 0.01).

conclusionsOur results can inform ongoing debates about the strengths and weaknesses of virtual-only OUD care.

Indexed as

BuprenorphineOpiate Substitution TreatmentOpioid-Related DisordersTelemedicineAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedUnited StatesBuprenorphineOpioid use disorderSubstance use disorderTelemedicine

Identifiers

PMID42385935
PMCPMC13545553

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.