BackgroundOverdoses due to non-medical use of prescription opioids and other opiates have become the leading cause of accidental deaths in the USA. Buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone are key evidence-based pharmacotherapies available to addiction treatment providers to address opioid use disorder (OUD) and prevent overdose deaths. Treatment organizations’ efforts to provide these pharmacotherapies have, however, been stymied by limited success in recruiting providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) to prescribe these medications. Historically, the addiction treatment field has not attracted physicians, and many barriers to implementing OUD pharmacotherapy exist, ranging from lack of confidence in treating OUD patients to concerns regarding reimbursement. Throughout the USA, the prevalence of OUD far exceeds the capacity of the OUD pharmacotherapy treatment system. Poor access to OUD pharmacotherapy prescribers has become a workforce development need for the addiction treatment field and a significant health issue.MethodsThis cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) is designed to increase buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone treatment capacity for OUD. The implementation intervention to be tested is a bundle of OUD pharmacotherapy capacity building practices called the Prescriber Recruitment Bundle (PRB), which was developed and piloted in a previous statewide buprenorphine implementation study. For this cluster RCT, organizational sites will be recruited and then randomized into one of two arms: (1) control, with treatment as usual and access to a website with PRB resources, or (2) intervention, with organizations implementing the PRB using the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment organizational change model over a 24-month intervention period and a 10-month sustainability period. The primary treatment outcomes for each organizational site are self-reported monthly counts of buprenorphine slots, extended-release naltrexone capacity, number of buprenorphine patients, and number of extended-release naltrexone patients.This trial will be conducted in Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin, resulting in 35 sites in each arm, for a total sample size of 70 organizations.DiscussionThis study addresses three issues of substantial public health significance: (1) the pressing opioid misuse epidemic, (2) the low uptake of OUD treatment pharmacotherapies, and (3) the need to increase prescriber participation in the addiction treatment workforce.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02926482,

Background Buprenorphine is a critically important treatment for addressing the opioid epidemic, but there are virtually no studies of physicians’ job satisfaction with providing buprenorphine. Physicians’ job satisfaction has been linked to burnout and turnover as well as patients’ adherence to treatment recommendations, so it is important to understand how physicians’ satisfaction with providing buprenorphine treatment compares to their overall job satisfaction. Methods As part of a cluster randomized clinical trial (RCT) focused on expanding access to medication for opioid use disorder, 55 physicians working in 38 organizations in Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin completed a baseline web-based survey. Study measures included global job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and specialty satisfaction. Physicians who were waivered to prescribe buprenorphine were asked to rate their satisfaction with their current buprenorphine practice. Results Overall, physicians were generally satisfied with their jobs, their careers, and their specialties. When waivered physicians (n = 40) were compared to non-waivered physicians (n = 15) on 13 satisfaction items, there were no statistically significant differences. Among waivered physicians, ratings for buprenorphine work were significantly lower than ratings for general medical practice for finding such work personally rewarding, being pleased with such work, and overall satisfaction. Conclusions Although waivered and non-waivered physicians both reported high global job satisfaction, these data suggest that some waivered physicians may view their buprenorphine work as somewhat less satisfying than their global medical practice. Given that job dissatisfaction is a risk factor for turnover and burnout, managers of treatment organizations should consider whether strategies may be able to mitigate some sources of lower satisfaction in the context of buprenorphine treatment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT02926482. Date of registration: September 9, 2016. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02926482

Background and objective: County, State, and Federal agencies are addressing the public health opioid crisis. Ohio's 51 county-based Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Boards finance and regulate opioid treatment services within their jurisdictions. This three-year comparative trial collaborated with ADAMHS Boards (n = 14) to test the Advancing Recovery Framework, a suite of organizational and system change strategies designed to promote use of buprenorphine for opioid agonist therapy. Methods: A multi-level intervention directed payers and treatment agencies to leverage their roles in increasing the use of buprenorphine. Half of the boards partnered with local substance use disorder treatment providers using the partnership strategies recommended by the Advancing Recovery (AR) framework. The comparison boards did not use the partnership strategies. Results and conclusion: A logistic regression analysis detected increases in the number of patients receiving buprenorphine in both conditions. Buprenorphine use, as a percentage of patients with an opioid use disorder diagnosis, was significantly greater among the boards using the Advancing Recovery strategies during the threeyear experimental period (odds ratio (OR) 1.63, 95% CI, 1.50 to 1.76, p < .001) and a one-year maintenance period (OR 2.13, 95% CI, 1.85 to 2.46, p < .001). Boards in both groups provided similar levels of financial support to implement and maintain buprenorphine prescribing. Strategy differences between the study conditions existed in use of a committee that facilitated payer-provider partnering and the ADAMHS boards setting expectations for using buprenorphine. Payer-provider partnerships achieved greater improvements and maximized the effectiveness of funding in increasing access to buprenorphine. 1.1. Trial setting Ohio's opioid overdose fatality rate increased from 4.2/100,000 in 1999 to 39.1/100,000 in 2016 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016). The trial team partnered with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to test organizational change strategies payers and treatment providers can use to improve

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Working with the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS) and researchers at the University of Akron, Wright State University's Center for Interventions, Treatment, and Addictions Research developed the Ohio Substance Abuse Monitoring (OSAM) Network to provide a statewide summary of substance abuse trends. Ten key informants across the state collect qualitative and statistical data on substance abuse trends in their regions and prepare biannual reports. The OSAM network has a rapid response capability through which key informants can investigate special issues related to substance abuse identified by ODADAS and provide policymakers with timely, statewide reports. Within 12 months after operations began, the key informants produced reports on drug abuse trends and rapid response issues for the state. These reports prepared policymakers to respond more effectively to prevention and substance abuse treatment needs.