A recent report from the Office of the Inspector General, within the federal Department of Health and Human Services, found that “in 2023, about 1.2 million Medicare enrollees had a diagnosis of opioid use disorder. Yet just 229,993 of these enrollees—18.7 percent—received medication for opioid use disorder.”
This percentage “represents several years of minimal growth.” The percentage of Medicare enrollees with opioid use disorder that received medications increased from 15.9% in 2020 to 17.7% in 2021, 18.4% in 2022, and 18.7% in 2023. Among those who received treatment, the majority received buprenorphine, while others received methadone or naltrexone.
Despite the removal of the “X Waiver,” which had required healthcare providers to obtain a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine, the report noted that the low percentage “may indicate that enrollees are facing ongoing challenges accessing treatment.”
In particular, “Medicare enrollees in Florida, Texas, and Nevada continue to be the least likely to receive medication for their opioid use disorder,” where less than 10% received medications for opioid use disorder. The five states with the highest percentages were Vermont (60%), Maine (51%), Massachusetts (50%), Rhode Island (50%), and New Hampshire (43%).
The report concluded that “these findings show a continued need for CMS to work to ensure access to both medications for opioid use disorder and opioid overdose-reversal drugs.”