New research project to focus on increasing physician capacity to prescribe buprenorphine

Todd Molfenter, Senior Scientist at the Center for Health Enhancement System Studies (CHESS) and NIATx Deputy Director will lead a five-year NIDA grant to increase physician capacity to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid misuse disorders.  

Buprenorphine pharmacotherapy is a promising evidence-based practice for treating opioid dependence in specialty addiction treatment centers. While these treatment centers provide 88% of opioid addiction treatment only 17% of them offer medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine. One of the leading causes for not using this therapy is the lack of certified physician prescribers.

 “Test of a Workforce Intervention to Expand Buprenorphine Prescribers” will test a bundle of practices that increased physician-prescribing capacity significantly in the Ohio Buprenorphine Implementation Study. The Ohio study involved 40 addiction treatment organizations; the new project will include three states and 70 addiction treatment programs.  

The practice bundle includes the field-tested physician recruiting practices and will rely on NIATx model to implement elements of the bundle.

“By increasing access to buprenorphine treatment for opioid addiction, this trial could have a significant public health impact,” says Molfenter. “If the practice bundle proves successful, it could also be used to recruit physicians in other areas where physician shortages exist.”