What is it about?
We interviewed clinic leaders at several community outpatient mental health clinics across the U.S. where medications for the treatment of opioid use disorders (MOUD) were or were not available to find out what factors helped or hindered delivery. We learned that in clinics where leadership thought addressing opioid use disorders were a priority helped launch MOUD delivery. While there were many challenges noted by staff to providing MOUD in their setting, the clinics where MOUD was being delivered had successfully navigated these challenges, such as through the increased provision of staff training, work flow changes, and leveraging of telehealth. Financing was seen as an obstacle that needed further attention for many clinics and patients to overcome.
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Why is it important?
Recent data suggests that 1 in 10 patients in publicly funded mental health settings may have an opioid use disorder—these hit rates are much higher than observed in primary care and emergency rooms—where much of the research attention has been focused. Providing access to medications for opioid use disorders in these settings may help reach people who would not otherwise have access.
Perspectives
Deaths from opioid use disorders can be prevented by increasing access to lifesaving medications like buprenorphine and methadone. Providing these medications in community mental health clinics, where people are already being assessed and treated with medications is an ideal place to provide access to these medications and improve outcomes for people with opioid use disorders.
Sarah Hunter
RAND Corp
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Challenges to and Solutions for Implementing Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Community Mental Health Centers, Psychiatric Services, June 2025, American Psychiatric Association,
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.20240475.
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