Lead Story

Racial Inequality in Receipt of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder

The New England Journal of Medicine

Opioid overdose mortality has increased over the last ten years, but disproportionately among Black persons. The authors examine racial disparities in receipt of buprenorphine and naloxone after opioid use disorder (OUD) related events using Medicare data from 2016-2019. They found that Black persons were less likely to receive buprenorphine (12.7 vs 23.3%) and naloxone (14.4% vs 22.9%) than White persons within six months after the event. Further, Black persons received lower day supply of buprenorphine and were less likely to be retained on treatment. Of note, Black and White persons had similar rates of ambulatory visits in the 6 months after the event, indicating patient and provider-level barriers to access.

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