Buprenorphine prescribing comfort level among family medicine providers post MAT and MATE Acts.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the percentage of family medicine providers in our institution on completing the 8-hour required training on opioid and substance use disorders 14 months after introduction of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act and to evaluate buprenorphine prescribing attitudes.

DESIGN/

SETTING

An anonymized survey was electronically sent to all family medicine providers in a single institution in Minnesota, spanning five outpatient and two express care clinics. Survey was deployed for 2 weeks, August 26-September 8, 2024.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Provider completion of MATE Act training and comfort level in prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD).

RESULTS

A total of 41 out of 127 providers completed the survey (31.5 percent). Although 76 percent respondents completed the training, only half felt comfortable seeing patients with OUD on buprenorphine, writing a bridge prescription, or initiating buprenorphine.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that elimination of the x-waiver and enactment of required training are insufficient to positively affect buprenorphine prescribing comfort level.