The number of health care providers with waivers to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder increased 19% between October 2021 and September 2022 to 132,005, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today. HHS last April issued revised practice guidelines for administering buprenorphine to treat OUD, which eased requirements for clinicians to obtain a waiver to treat OUD patients with buprenorphine. According to HHS, pharmacy-filled prescriptions for the overdose reversal drug naloxone also increased 37% over the period, from a three-month average of 109,414 prescriptions in October 2021 to 150,213 in August 2022. 
 

Related News Articles

Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 22 finalized rules intended to improve access in both the Medicaid fee-for-service and managed care…
Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 19 approved an amendment to a Massachusetts Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program…
Headline
Patients went out-of-network 3.5 times more often to see a behavioral health clinician than a medical/surgical clinician in 2021, and up to 20 times more often…
Headline
Challenging prior authorization policy requirements were addressed in an AHA Annual Membership Meeting panel discussion moderated by Marilyn Werber Serafini,…
Headline
Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm addressed AHA Annual Membership Meeting attendees about the Administration’s work to…
Headline
Three retiring members of Congress — Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., and Dan Kildee, D-Mich. — engaged in a genial conversation that covered the…