Access to Treatment for Drug Use Disorders at US Health Centers: a National Study

Excerpt

Drug use disorders (DUDs) and associated overdose deaths are a growing public health concern in the USA, contributing to the first decrease in American life expectancy in over 100 years.¹ Treatment for drug addiction remains uncommon despite the availability of evidence-based behavioral and pharmacologic treatments for many substances. We previously described the need for and barriers to alcohol use disorder care at federally funded US health centers,² which provided safety-net care to more than 27 million Americans in 2017, but access to DUD care in this population remains underexplored. The objective of the current study was to examine the continuum of DUD care, location of treatment delivery, and barriers to receiving drug use treatment among health center attendees with symptoms of DUD. …