States that adopted Medicaid expansion between 2019 and 2023 saw a 21.1% relative increase in buprenorphine treatment rates — or 28.67 per 100,000 residents — to treat opioid disorder, according to a cross-sectional study published Feb. 18 in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers from Newark, N.J.-based Rutgers Health analyzed 149,648,295 dispensations for 4,596,264 patients from 2013 to 2024 using the IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database, which contains more than 90% of U.S. retail pharmacy claims across 51 jurisdictions.
Here are three things to know:
- States that adopted expansion between 2014 and 2016 did not see statistically significant gains. The study found baseline treatment rates were higher in those states, which may have limited relative growth.
- State-level gains varied, with Maine seeing an increase of 57.22 per 100,000 residents, Virginia 44.46 and Oklahoma 22.98.
- The findings suggest Medicaid expansion continues to play a central role in improving access to opioid use disorder treatment, particularly in states with more recent policy adoptions.
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