The Rural and Urban Supply of Clinicians With a DEA Waiver to Prescribe Buprenorphine in 2022 Prior to the Elimination of the Waiver Requirement
The opioid epidemic is an enduring problem in the United States. Approximately 6.1 million Americans had opioid use disorder (OUD), including 265,000 youth ages 12 to 17 years old, in 2022. Buprenorphine is an effective medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder (MOUD). Before 2023, eligible clinicians were required to obtain a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe buprenorphine for OUD. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 eliminated the DEA waiver requirement to prescribe buprenorphine. This data brief describes the supply of all clinicians with a DEA waiver to prescribe MOUD from 2017 to 2022, five years prior to the elimination of the waiver requirement.
Key Findings:
- Overall, the supply of eligible clinicians grew in both rural and urban counties in the five years from 2017 to 2022.
- Despite this growth, more rural counties lacked waivered clinicians (30.1%) compared to urban counties (10.4%) in 2022, and rural counties had a lower overall supply of clinicians per 100,000 population (25.2) compared to urban counties (32.6).
- Small and remote rural counties had the greatest proportion of counties without a clinician (41.3%) compared to other rural counties.