For those looking to overcome an addiction to prescription painkillers or heroin, buprenorphine presents a relatively safe and proven option. Yet it’s rarely used: A new studyestimates that, among Americans who used Medicare to pay for their prescriptions in 2013, about 80,000 had a script for buprenorphine, commonly known as Suboxone (one of the brand names). Meanwhile, the study’s authors estimate about 300,000 Medicare beneficiaries suffered from an opioid use disorder in 2013.
“Buprenorphine is one of the most effective, proven ways to reduce things like relapse, overdose deaths, crimes, etc.,” says Jonathan Chen, one of the authors, who is a doctor and medical-data researcher at Stanford University. “We have a tool here and, from what we can tell, we’re not using it as much as we could be.”
When someone quits using heroin or prescription painkillers, buprenorphine can reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, help to stick to a treatment program, and lower the likelihood of seeking out illicit opioids. Prince appears to have been about to start on buprenorphine when he died in his home in Minneapolis, according to a local news report. Methadone, the better-known addiction-treatment medicine, has similar effects, but it’s not covered by Medicare.
[For more of this story, written by Francie Diep, go to https://psmag.com/few-american...eb19bc146#.6vvdh71u5]
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