Characteristics and Prescribing Patterns of Clinicians Waivered to Prescribe Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Before and After Release of New Practice Guidelines

IMPORTANCE In April 2021, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released practice guidelines exempting educational requirements to obtain a Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA) waiver to treat up to 30 patients with opioid use disorder with buprenorphine. OBJECTIVE To compare demographic and practice characteristics of clinicians who received traditional DATA waivers before and after release of the education-exempted HHS practice guidelines and those who were approved under the guidelines. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This survey study was conducted electronically from February 1 to March 1, 2022. Eligible survey recipients were US clinicians who obtained an initial DATA waiver between April 2020 and November 2021. EXPOSURE DATA waiver approval pathway. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES The outcomes were clinician demographic and practice characteristics, buprenorphine prescribing barriers, and strategies to treat patients with opioid use disorder, measured using chi(2) tests and z tests to assess for differences among the waivered groups. RESULTS Of 23 218 eligible clinicians, 4519 (19.5%) responded to the survey. This analysis was limited to 2736 respondents with a 30-patient limit at the time of survey administration who identified their DATA waiver approval pathway. Among these respondents, 1365 (49.9%; female, 831 [61.9%]; male, 512 [38.1%]) received their DATA waiver prior to the education-exempted practice guidelines (prior DATA waiver), 550 (20.1%; female, 343 [63.4%]; male, 198 [36.6%]) received their waiver after guidelines were released but met education requirements (concurrent DATA waiver), and 821 (30.0%; female, 396 [49.2%]; male, 409 [50.8%]) received thewaiver under the educationexempted guidelines (practice guidelines). Among practice guidelines clinicians, 500 (60.9%) reported that traditional DATA waiver educational requirements were a reason for not previously obtaining a waiver. Demographic and practice characteristics differed by waiver approval type. Across all groups, a large minority had not prescribed buprenorphine since obtaining a waiver (prior DATA waiver, 483 [35.7%]; concurrent DATA waiver, 226 [41.2%]; practice guidelines, 359 [44.3%]; P <.001). Clinicians who prescribed buprenorphine in the past 6 months reported treating few patients in an average month: 27 practice guidelines clinicians (6.0%) prescribed to 0 patients and 338 (75.1%) to 1 to 4 patients compared with 16 (2.2%) and 435 (59.9%) for prior and 11 (3.6%) and 166 (55.0%) for concurrent DATA waiver clinicians, respectively (P <.001). Across waiver types, clinicians reported multiple challenges to buprenorphine prescribing. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this survey of DATA-waivered clinicians, clinician- and systems-level challenges that limit buprenorphine prescribing were observed, even among clinicians approved under the education-exempted guidelines pathway. The findings suggest that as implementation of legislation removing the DATA waiver begins, addressing these barriers could be essential to increasing buprenorphine access.