Racial/ethnic disparities in timely receipt of buprenorphine among Medicare disability beneficiaries

Background: Medicare disability beneficiaries (MDBs) have disproportionately high risk of opioid use disorder (OUD) and related harms given high rates of comorbidities and high-dose opioid prescribing. Despite this increased risk, little is known about timely receipt of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), including potential disparities by patient race/ethnicity or moderation by county-level characteristics.Methods: National Medicare claims for a sample of MDBs with incident OUD diagnosis between March 2016 and June 2019 were linked with county-level data. Multivariable mixed effects Cox proportional hazards models estimated time (in days) to buprenorphine receipt within 180 days of incident OUD diagnosis. Primary exposures included individual-level race/ethnicity and county-level buprenorphine prescriber availability, percent nonHispanic white (NHW) residents, and Social Deprivation Index (SDI) score.Results: The sample (n=233,079) was predominantly White (72.3%), >= 45 years old (76.3%), and male (54.8%). Black (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]=0.50; 95% CI, 0.47-0.54), Asian/Pacific Islander (aHR=0.54; 95% CI, 0.41-0.72), Hispanic/Latinx (aHR=0.81; 95% CI, 0.76-0.87), and Other racial/ethnic groups (aHR=0.75; 95% CI, 0.58-0.97) had a lower likelihood of timely buprenorphine than non-Hispanic white beneficiaries after adjusting for individual and county-level confounders. Timely buprenorphine receipt was positively associated with county-level buprenorphine prescriber availability (aHR=1.05; 95% CI, 1.04-1.07), percent non-Hispanic white residents (aHR=1.01; 95% CI, 1.00-1.01), and SDI (aHR=1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.10). Conclusions: Racial/ethnic disparities highlight the need to improve access to care for underserved groups. Implementing equity-focused quality and performance measures and developing interventions to increase officebased buprenorphine prescribing in predominantly minority race/ethnicity counties may reduce disparities in timely access to medication for OUD.

Automated summary

The study revealed racial disparities in timely access to medication for opioid use disorder among Medicare disability beneficiaries, highlighting the need to improve healthcare services for underserved minority groups and increase the accessibility of office-based buprenorphine prescribing.