Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Waivers to Prescribe Buprenorphine and State Scope of Practice Restrictions

Joanne Spetz; Christopher Toretsky; Susan Chapman; Bethany Phoenix; Matthew Tierney

doi:10.1001/jama.2019.0834

Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Waivers to Prescribe Buprenorphine and State Scope of Practice Restrictions

JAMA. 2019 Apr 9;321(14):1407-1408. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.0834.

Authors

Joanne Spetz¹, Christopher Toretsky¹, Susan Chapman², Bethany Phoenix³, Matthew Tierney³

Affiliations

¹ Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco.
² Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco.
³ Department of Community Health Systems, University of California, San Francisco.

Abstract

This study uses SAMHSA data to describe the proportions of nurse practitioners and physician assistants with waivers to prescribe buprenorphine for treating opioid use disorder and associations with state regulations restricting their scope of practice.

MeSH terms

Buprenorphine / therapeutic use*
Drug Prescriptions* / nursing
Drug and Narcotic Control
Government Regulation*
Humans
Narcotic Antagonists / therapeutic use*
Nurse Practitioners*
Opioid-Related Disorders / drug therapy*
Physician Assistants*
State Government
United States
United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Substances

Narcotic Antagonists
Buprenorphine