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Access to addiction meds for young people has improved
Confirmed
In Short: A new study published in JAMA Network Open by Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Mass General Brigham for Children, highlights mixed progress in access to addiction medications for young people.
In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement advocating for doctors to offer medications for opioid use disorder to adolescent and young adult patients.
The study found that while more young people with an opioid use disorder diagnosis are starting treatment, the increase is modest.
Hadland noted, “There have been some real positive changes, and then there have been some really catastrophic changes.”
Sivabalaji Kaliamurthy, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, observed that once young people turn 18, more resources become available, but structural barriers persist.
The study revealed that Black young people and other racially minoritized groups had worse attrition rates compared to their white peers.
Kaliamurthy found the number of young people initiating treatment after diagnosis to be promising but emphasized the need for better retention.
Sarah Bagley, an internist and pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, stressed the importance of creating a clinical environment that is appealing, safe, and nonjudgmental.
Primary care physicians and pediatricians need to feel comfortable prescribing buprenorphine, addiction doctors said.
Hadland noted that there is now active demand for knowledge about addiction treatment among his colleagues and professional organizations.
On the day the study was published, Hadland traveled to the AAP’s annual conference to discuss addiction and the potency of the drug supply.
The study found that out of nearly 230,000 young people, about half initiated treatment by seeing a clinician, and about a third had at least two appointments in the first month.
Overdose deaths among young people have skyrocketed since 2019, underscoring the urgency of improving access to treatment.
Background
At a stadium vigil, Pope Leo XIV addressed a crowd of young Catholics in France.
What's confirmed
- In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement advocating for doctors to offer medications for opioid use disorder to adolescent and young adult patients.
- The study found that while more young people with an opioid use disorder diagnosis are starting treatment, the increase is modest.
- Sivabalaji Kaliamurthy, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, observed that once young people turn 18, more resources become available, but structural barriers persist.
- The study revealed that Black young people and other racially minoritized groups had worse attrition rates compared to their white peers.
- Kaliamurthy found the number of young people initiating treatment after diagnosis to be promising but emphasized the need for better retention.
- Sarah Bagley, an internist and pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, stressed the importance of creating a clinical environment that is appealing, safe, and nonjudgmental.
- Primary care physicians and pediatricians need to feel comfortable prescribing buprenorphine, addiction doctors said.
- Hadland noted that there is now active demand for knowledge about addiction treatment among his colleagues and professional organizations.
- On the day the study was published, Hadland traveled to the AAP’s annual conference to discuss addiction and the potency of the drug supply.
- The study found that out of nearly 230,000 young people, about half initiated treatment by seeing a clinician, and about a third had at least two appointments in the first month.
- Overdose deaths among young people have skyrocketed since 2019, underscoring the urgency of improving access to treatment.
What's still developing
- Hadland’s latest paper, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, offers a national perspective on the continuity of addiction care among young people.
- And the number of young people who stayed on medication for six months — already quite low — may have actually decreased.
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- A new study shows that 23 states in the U.S. don't have treatment facilities that accept Medicaid, limiting an at-risk population's access to treatment.
- Residential addiction treatment centers for adolescents are costly and unevenly distributed across the U.S., with more than 60% of facilities that accept Medicaid already at capacity.
- With fentanyl leading to a rising overdose crisis in this age group, access to all treatment pathways possible will be essential.
- Residential treatment centers are voluntary live-in facilities where patients can generally access addiction treatment alongside therapy and be closely monitored by care teams.
- Prior to this study, little information and guidance existed for youth-specific addiction residential treatment.
- Senator Gary Peters (MI) joined a group of his colleagues in leading bipartisan legislation to help increase Americans’ access to telemental health care services.
- The Telemental Health Care Access Act Peters cosponsored would remove this barrier for Medicare beneficiaries by eliminating the requirement that patients must be regularly seen in-person.
- Access to telehealth services is particularly needed in Michigan, where 38 of Michigan’s 83 counties currently lack a behavioral health provider.
- The Telemental Health Care Access Act would additionally require the U.S.