A study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that initiation of buprenorphine
treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) via telemedicine was associated with retention in treatment
early during the COVID-19 pandemic. The retrospective cohort study, published on October 18, 2023,
looked at Medicaid claims data on nearly 92,000 enrollees aged 18 to 64 from Kentucky and Ohio
between November 2019 and December 2020. An analysis of the data revealed that 48 percent of
Kentucky Medicaid enrollees remained in buprenorphine treatment for 90 continuous days, compared
to 44 percent who started in non-telehealth settings. Similar results were observed in Ohio, with a 32
percent retention rate for telehealth initiators compared to 28 percent for non-telehealth starters.
Furthermore, the study identified an increase in the number of buprenorphine prescriptions issued via
telemedicine in both states. Notably, the largest increases occurred after the Drug Enforcement
Administration and Department of Health and Human Services issued regulatory flexibilities during the
COVID-19 pandemic related to prescribing controlled medications via telemedicine, underscoring the
benefits of telemedicine as a strategy to increase access to medications for OUD.
Read the full study.