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The Authors’ Own Words: A Health Crisis Within A Health Crisis: Opioid Access in the COVID-19 Pandemic

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In this commentary, Aditya Narayan, BS and Rajesh Balkrishnan, PhD draw attention to substance use and opioid access during the ongoing crisis, given the potential for breakdowns in treatment access for addiction, the growing concern of mental health comorbidities, and the lack of access for those who require opioids for adequate pain management. As well as offer policy and practice recommendations that may be implemented to provide more equitable distribution of care.

“We find ourselves embroiled in a pandemic that has deeply taxed our healthcare and broader societal infrastructures. To better serve patients who suffer from addiction, we have responded by creating a number of policy changes that move towards more equitable substance use care. In this commentary, we discuss further policy and practice changes that may be of interest to many working in the substance use space amidst the pandemic.”

You can read this commentary in SAj Volume 42, Issue 2 or online.

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The Authors’ Own Words: “One size does not fit all” and other lessons learned from grants for implementation of the AHRQ Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in rural primary care

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Authors Parivash Nourjah, PhD and Elizabeth Kato, MD, MRP share lessons learned from five AHRQ grants to implement Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in rural primary care practices. Lessons learned were extracted from quarterly and annual grantee progress reports, minutes from quarterly virtual meetings, and minutes and notes from annual grantee in-person meetings.

“The evidence is clear that medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) save lives; however, there are currently not nearly enough providers in rural areas who are able and willing to offer MOUD to all the patients who need it.  Understanding the barriers which prevent primary care practices from offering MOUD to their patients and how to overcome those barriers could save millions of lives.  This commentary highlights valuable lessons learned from studies across five states that implemented MOUD in rural primary care practices.  Sharing these lessons could help other implementers successfully expand the availability of MOUD by showing them how to anticipate and overcome barriers to MOUD in rural primary care practices.”

You can read this commentary in SAj Volume 42, Issue 2 or online.

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The Authors’ Own Words: Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine – Strange Bedfellows or Separated at Birth?

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Alëna A. Balasanova ,MD, Alexis D. Ritvo, MD, MPH, and Joel Yager, MD share their thoughts around their commentary published in in SAj last spring. In this commentary, the authors review skill sets, specialty training, and career outcomes for physicians specializing in the assessment and management of substance use disorders.

“This paper explores similarities and differences between the fields of addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry, discussing specialty training, board certification processes, and professional pathways. When considering consultation or referral to an addiction specialist, these descriptions may help clarify health professionals’ expectations and inform questions they might ask concerning physicians’ primary certification and scope of practice.”

You can read this commentary in SAj Volume 42, Issue 2 or online.

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The Authors’ Own Words: The Who, the What, and the How: A Description of Strategies and Lessons Learned to Expand Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural America

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Evan S. Cole, PhD, Ellen DiDomenico, MS, Sherri Green, PhD, MSW, LCSW, Susan K. R. Heil, PhD, MS, Tandrea Hilliard, PhD, MPH, Sarah E. Mossburg, PhD, MS, Andrew L. Sussman, PhD, Jack Warwick, MPH, John M. Westfall, MD, MPH, Linda Zittleman, MSPH  and Julie G. Salvador, PhD share their own thoughts around their SAj commentary published this last February.

“There are many barriers that primary care providers face to offer opioid use disorder treatment using medications such as buprenorphine and naltrexone in rural settings. This manuscript argues that training and support for the entire clinic using a broad menu of resources is essential, but is not addressed by the DATA 2000 waiver requirement. The manuscript provides clear guidance, based on data across five research studies, regarding best approaches for engaging and supporting rural primary care providers to start MOUD treatment and help address the OUD crisis nationally. Our commentary is unique as it summarizes cross-cutting themes from grantees in five different states, working with a broad mix of clinic types (e.g., solo practice vs rural health system), thus enhancing the generalizability that our findings might offer to providers, payer, and policymakers.”

Read this article now here and follow SAj on twitter to stay up to date with new publications!

The Authors’ Own Words: Beyond the tip of the iceberg: A narrative review to identify research gaps on comorbid psychiatric disorders in adolescents with methamphetamine use disorder or chronic methamphetamine use

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Sören Kuitunen-Paul, PhD, Veit Roessner, Lukas A. Basedow, MSc, and Yulia Golub, PhD, MD, authors of “Beyond the tip of the iceberg: A narrative review to identify research gaps on comorbid psychiatric disorders in adolescents with methamphetamine use disorder or chronic methamphetamine use” share their own insights on their SAj article.

“To our knowledge this is the first review on comorbid disorders specifically in adolescents with methamphetamine use disorder. Readers interested in basic research on SUD development will find a number of identified research goals that are both relevant to the field and under-researched in adolescent samples (see chapter 5.3 Future Directions, section Testing associations deducted from adult studies). For readers interested in therapy research, we provide an overview of studies that underline the therapeutic relevance of treating comorbidities already during SUD treatment (see Table 3 Summary of onset patterns and treatment recommendations for selected comorbidities of MUD in adolescents, and chapter 5.3 Future Directions, section Integrated therapy programs and their evaluation).”

Read this article now here and follow SAj on twitter to stay up to date with new publications!