2017 to 2022 Saw Rise in ED Orders for Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder

THURSDAY, Feb. 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Emergency clinicians in California increased prescription of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD) from 2017 to 2022, according to a study published online Feb. 19 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Annette M. Dekker, M.D., from the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues examined emergency clinician buprenorphine initiation for OUD, subsequent prescriptions, and changes over time in California in an observational retrospective study. The analysis included data from the California Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (2017 through 2022).

The researchers identified 345,024 patients receiving 3.8 million buprenorphine prescriptions from 21,099 clinicians in California during the study period. At the time of first buprenorphine prescription, patients” mean age was 37 years and 67 percent were male. Over time, emergency clinicians increased from 2 percent (78 clinicians) to 16 percent (1,789 clinicians) of buprenorphine prescribers. Similarly, there was an increase in the proportion of buprenorphine initiation prescriptions by emergency clinicians (0.1 percent [53 clinicians] to 5 percent [4,493 clinicians]). For patients receiving an emergency department initiation, the continuation ratio to receive a second prescription within 40 days was 2.8. Within 40 days of emergency department buprenorphine initiation, the continuation ratio for patients to start 180 days or more of continuous prescriptions was 18.3. The continuation ratio was 9.1 within one year.

“For a lot of people who use opioids, the emergency department might be the only touch point they have with the health care system, so it’s a huge window of opportunity to make a difference,” Dekker said in a statement.

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