Deal Us In
Ace
of
Diamonds
Fund Increased Access To Buprenorphine For Communities Of Color
Buprenorphine is a gold standard in treating opioid use disorder but studies show it remains primarily accessible to white people.* Racial disparities in access to MOUD results in increased overdose rates in communities of color.
What You Need To Know
Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are the standard of care and indisputably reduce morbidity. However, a racial treatment gap persists, with Black patients less likely to receive MOUD when compared to white patients.
The intersectional stigma that is compounded by race and addiction, and clinicians lacking structural competency, all of which are rooted in the structural racism inherent to drug use policy and addiction care, likely contribute to persistent disparities in the experience of Black people seeking treatment for OUD.
Interventions and policy changes that seek to reverse racialized two-tiered treatment systems and compounded stigma experienced by Black individuals are critical to ensuring equitable, effective, and desirable care.*
A recent nationwide county-level evaluation of access to methadone and buprenorphine showed that racial segregation predicts differences in access to both medications (Goedel et al., 2020), and even at the regional level, neighborhood demographic makeup drives disparities in access to both medications (Hansen et al., 2013)
Where to Go for More Information
Research
While there has been an overall uptake of buprenorphine as a treatment for OUD, a 2018 study showed that it remains primarily accessible to white people, and to people who are beneficiaries of employer-based insurance (Roberts et al., 2018).
many buprenorphine prescribers only accept cash payments (Grimm, 2020; Stein et al., 2018)
A Lack of Empathy:” A qualitative study of Black people seeking treatment for opioid use disorder
Among patients who experience non-fatal overdoses, Black patients are half as likely to obtain follow-up appointments for OUD care after discharge from the emergency room (Kilaru et al., 2020)
While there has been an overall uptake of buprenorphine as a treatment for OUD, a 2018 study showed that it remains primarily accessible to white people, and to people who are beneficiaries of employer-based insurance (Roberts et al., 2018).