Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
School of Government and Public Policy, University of Arizona, Tucson.
JAMA Health Forum. 2021 Nov;2(11):e213833. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.3833. Epub 2021 Nov 19.
IMPORTANCE: Federal and state governments implemented temporary strategies for providing access to opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advocates hope many of these policies become permanent because of their potential to expand access to care. OBJECTIVE: To consider the multitude of ways access to and utilization of treatment for individuals with OUD might have been expanded by state and federal policy so researchers can do a better job evaluating the effectiveness of specific policy approaches, which will depend on the interaction with other state policies. EVIDENCE REVIEW: We summarize state-level policy data reported by government and nonprofit agencies that track health care regulations, specifically the Kaiser Family Foundation, Federation of State Medical Boards, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Academy of Physician Assistants, and the National Safety Council. Data were collected by these sources from September 2020 through January 2021. We examine heterogeneity in policy elements adopted across states during the COVID-19 pandemic in 4 key areas: telehealth, privacy, licensing, and medication for opioid use disorder. The analysis was conducted from March 2020 through January 2021. FINDINGS: This cross-sectional study found that federal and state governments have taken important steps to ensure OUD treatment availability during the COVID-19 pandemic, but few states are comprehensive in their approach. Although all states and Washington, DC have adopted at least 1 telehealth policy, only 17 states have adopted telehealth policies that improve access to OUD treatment for new patients. Furthermore, only 9 states relaxed privacy laws, which influence the ability to use particular technology for telehealth visits. Similarly, all states have adopted at least 1 policy related to health care professional licensing permissions, but only 35 expanded the scope of practice laws for both physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Forty-four states expanded access to initiation and delivery of medication for OUD treatment. Together, no state has implemented all of these policies to comprehensively expand access to OUD treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: With considerable policy changes potentially affecting access to treatment and treatment retention for patients with OUD during the pandemic, evaluations must account for the variation in state approaches in related policy areas because the interactions between policies may limit the potential effectiveness of any single policy approach.
重要性:在 COVID-19 大流行期间,联邦和州政府实施了临时策略,以提供阿片类药物使用障碍(OUD)治疗的途径。倡导者希望许多这些政策成为永久性的,因为它们有可能扩大获得护理的机会。
目的:考虑通过州和联邦政策扩大 OUD 个体获得和利用治疗的多种方式,以便研究人员能够更好地评估特定政策方法的有效性,这将取决于与其他州政策的相互作用。
证据回顾:我们总结了政府和非营利机构报告的州级政策数据,这些机构跟踪医疗保健法规,特别是 Kaiser Family Foundation、州医学委员会联合会、美国护士从业者协会、美国医师助理协会和国家安全委员会。这些来源在 2020 年 9 月至 2021 年 1 月期间收集了数据。我们研究了在 COVID-19 大流行期间,4 个关键领域中各州在政策要素方面的异质性:远程医疗、隐私、许可和阿片类药物使用障碍治疗。分析于 2020 年 3 月至 2021 年 1 月进行。
发现:这项横断面研究发现,联邦和州政府在 COVID-19 大流行期间已采取重要步骤确保 OUD 治疗的可获得性,但很少有州采取全面的方法。尽管所有州和华盛顿特区都采取了至少 1 项远程医疗政策,但只有 17 个州采取了改善新患者获得 OUD 治疗途径的远程医疗政策。此外,只有 9 个州放宽了影响使用特定技术进行远程医疗访问的隐私法。同样,所有州都采取了至少 1 项与医疗保健专业人员许可权限相关的政策,但只有 35 个州扩大了医师助理和护士从业者的实践法范围。44 个州扩大了阿片类药物使用障碍治疗的起始和提供药物的途径。总的来说,没有一个州在 COVID-19 大流行期间实施了所有这些政策,以全面扩大 OUD 治疗的可获得性。
结论和相关性:随着大流行期间可能对 OUD 患者治疗途径和治疗保留产生重大影响的政策变化,评估必须考虑到相关政策领域中各州方法的差异,因为政策之间的相互作用可能限制任何单一政策方法的潜在有效性。
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