Implement Sci
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Test of a workforce development intervention to expand opioid use disorder treatment pharmacotherapy prescribers: protocol for a cluster randomized trial.
Overdoses due to non-medical use of prescription opioids and other opiates have become the leading cause of accidental deaths in the USA. Buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone are key evidence-based pharmacotherapies available to addiction treatment providers to address opioid use disorder (OUD) and prevent overdose deaths. Treatment organizations' efforts to provide these pharmacotherapies have, however, been stymied by limited success in recruiting providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) to prescribe these medications. Historically, the addiction treatment field has not attracted physicians, and many barriers to implementing OUD pharmacotherapy exist, ranging from lack of confidence in treating OUD patients to concerns regarding reimbursement. Throughout the USA, the prevalence of OUD far exceeds the capacity of the OUD pharmacotherapy treatment system. Poor access to OUD pharmacotherapy prescribers has become a workforce development need for the addiction treatment field and a significant health issue. ⋯ This study addresses three issues of substantial public health significance: (1) the pressing opioid misuse epidemic, (2) the low uptake of OUD treatment pharmacotherapies, and (3) the need to increase prescriber participation in the addiction treatment workforce.