Increasing Primary Care Utilization of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder

Background: With increasing prevalence of opioid use disorders (OUDs) there is an urgent need for OUD trained front line primary care providers (PCPs) who can help improve patient adherence to addiction treatment. Unfortunately, most physicians have had limited training for treating patients with addiction, leaving clinicians under prepared. To address this need, we created a Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) training program specifically designed for PCPs.

Intervention: A 4-hour PCP focused buprenorphine office-based implementation training was designed to supplement the 8-hour SAMHSA DATA 2000 waiver training. The intent of the supplemental training is to increase PCP likelihood of implementing MAT through practical evidenced-based implementation, addressing barriers reported by waivered PCPs.

Methods: We developed and validated a new pre- and postsurvey instrument that assesses changes in participants knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Data were entered into REDCap, and composite scales were created and analyzed to determine pre-post differences.

Results: A total of 183 participants completed pre-post evaluations. Pre-post comparisons indicated substantial improvement in learner levels of confidence in implementing MAT care processes and in their interactions with MAT patients (df = 4, F = 203.518, P < .001). Participants described themselves as more comfortable identifying patients who would benefit from MAT (t = 15.04, P < .001), more competent in implementing MAT (t = 21.27, P < .001) and more willing (t = 15.56, P < .001) to implement MAT after training.

Conclusion: Evidence suggests that a new MAT training program that supplements the SAMHSA waiver training increases confidence and willingness to implement MAT among PCPs. Efforts to replicate this success to allow for further generalization and policy recommendations are warranted.