A new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that most substance use disorder treatment facilities in the US still do not offer medication treatment for opioid use disorder. This is despite the current opioid epidemic that is causing more and more overdose-related deaths.
Only a fraction of facilities that treat substance use disorders offer patients buprenorphine, naltrexone or methadone—the three FDA-approved medications for the management of long term opioid use disorder—despite the mounting death toll.
According to the study, just six percent of medication-offering facilities offered all three of the FDA-approved medications. It has been proven that these three medications can significantly lower a person’s risk of overdose, and so ideally, facilities should be offering any of the three medications.
It is important to have all three available because some patients may benefit more from methadone, others from buprenorphine and others from naloxone. This review for Rehab Near Me in Dallas Texas is helpful when trying to find an addiction treatment center in Texas.
In the study, published in the January issue of Health Affairs, the researchers used national survey data to analyze the medications being offered by different treatment facilities. They found that from 2007 to 2016, the proportion of substance use disorder treatment facilities that offered any medication treatment increased from 20 to only 36 percent. This means that even in 2016, when the opioid crisis was already worsening, nearly two-thirds of treatment facilities did not offer such medications.
The researchers analyzed more than 10,000 facilities that offered outpatient services. They found that in 2016, states that have expanded Medicaid coverage were significantly more likely to offer medication treatment.
“These results highlight the importance of Medicaid expansion in increasing the availability of medication treatment for opioid use disorder, though gaps in access remain widespread,” says Ramin Mojtabai, MD, lead author of the study and professor in the Department of Mental Health at the Bloomberg School.
In the US, the misuse of opioids began to expand rapidly in the late 1990s and has since escalated to epidemic proportions. But it is also worth noting that prescription painkillers themselves are very potent, and even those who take them via prescription are at risk of their habit-forming effects.
Part of the reason why medications and treatment, in general, have been inaccessible is because of the social stigma associated with addiction. It is important to treat addiction just like any other medical condition in order to solve the issue on a much larger scale.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that from 2002 to 2017, the number of fatal opioid overdoses annually rose from about 12,000 to over 47,000.
However, studies also suggest that relatively few people with opioid dependency receive any substance abuse disorder treatment. Fewer still get treatment with the proper FDA-approved medications.
The researchers from the Bloomberg School then evaluated data gathered from 2007 to 2016 in yearly surveys of known treatment facilities by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA.
About 70 percent of facilities offering medications had buprenorphine, while 57.6 percent offered extended-release naltrexone, and 28.7 percent offered methadone.
Across states, there was a wide variation in terms of addiction treatment programs available. Rhode Island, New York, and Vermont topped the rankings with more than 70 percent of the facilities in each state offering one of the three FDA-approved medications.
Hawaii, Arkansas, and Idaho had the lowest proportions of treatment facilities offering any FDA-approved medication, with 8.6 percent, 14.1 percent, and 16.8 percent respectively.
States with a higher prevalence of heroin use and more opioid overdose deaths were more likely to offer medication treatment in their drug rehab facilities.
If someone in the family is struggling with addiction, it is important to look for a nearby treatment facility that offers both medical detox and behavioral therapy. A comprehensive treatment program may work best. The road to recovery starts today.
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