The Authors’ Own Words: Underutilization of the current clinical capacity to provide buprenorphine treatment for Opioid Use Disorders within the Veterans Health Administration

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Underutilization of the current clinical capacity to provide buprenorphine treatment for Opioid Use Disorders within the Veterans Health Administration

Helen Valenstein-Mah, PhD; Hildi Hagedorn, PhD; Chad L. Kay, PharmD; Melissa L. Christopher, PharmD; & Adam J. Gordon, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 39, Iss. 3, 2018

“This manuscript highlights a discrepancy between the capacity of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) providers credentialed to prescribe buprenorphine, a first line treatment for Opioid Use Disorder, and the number of buprenorphine prescriptions these providers wrote over a six month period. The study found that VHA providers are prescribing buprenorphine below their capacity. These findings help to focus implementation efforts, and suggest that the VHA needs to not only focus on increasing the number of providers credentialed to prescribe buprenorphine, but also address barriers to prescribing at the patient-, provider-, and system-level to ensure veterans get effective treatment for Opioid Use Disorder.”