Barriers to the Adoption of Pharmacotherapies in Publicly Funded Substance Abuse Treatment: Policy Barriers and Access to Physicians

Pharmacotherapies are a key category of evidence-based treatment for substance abuse. and clearly fit within SAPRP Priority / Topic Area 5. This project will examine the factors related to the adoption of the FDA-approved medications for the treatment of substance abuse in the context of publicly funded addiction treatment programs. This project will examine the roles of state policies and the employment of physicians, which are two inter-related factors that may be important levers for increasing the adoption of the evidence-based practice of medication-assisted treatment in public sector treatment programs. Furthermore. there is little research that has integrated policy, organizational, and environmental variables into models of medication adoption, which will be addressed by the proposed research. By focusing on these issues, this project will advance the state of knowledge about factors that increase the adoption of evidence-based treatment, thereby addressing Topic Area·5.