Policies Affecting Patients’ Access to Buprenorphine with a Special Focus on Michigan Medicaid Patients

Abstract

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is an effective intervention used to treat opioid use disorder. Patients are often unable to access MAT, however, due to many legal, financial, and cultural barriers. Buprenorphine is a safe, evidence-based, and cost-effective form of MAT that can be accessed in the primary care setting, diminishing the need for patients to use subspecialty care. Among patients with insurance, Medicaid patients often experience the most disparities in accessing Buprenorphine. Thus, increasing its accessibility in the community has been a major focus of federal and state governments in recent years. Michigan policies that can be changed to increase patient access to Buprenorphine will be discussed by providing an appropriate overview of federal and state regulations affecting Michigan Medicaid patients in particular. Through this discussion, this review aims to highlight the need to increase Buprenorphine accessibility in Michigan for Medicaid patients by removing prior authorization requirements, increasing Medicaid patients’ network of substance use disorder providers, and improving access to generic, FDA-approved forms of Buprenorphine.