Medication-Assisted Treatment for Substance Use Disorders in Medicaid

Principal Investigator(s)

Julie Donohue, PhD

The Department of Human Services and other state agencies have a number of initiatives underway to improve the delivery of high quality care to Pennsylvanians with substance use disorders. These efforts include, but are not limited to initiatives to improve the measurement of quality of care for substance use disorders in state-only and Medicaid-funded programs; participation in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovations Accelerator Program -- a multi-state effort to improve delivery of care for individuals with substance use disorders; and initiatives to reduce the prevalence of opioid misuse and overdose including the expansion of the Commonwealth’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.

This project examines the use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders in Pennsylvania Medicaid. A previous project led by the University of Pittsburgh focused on opioid use disorders and MAT with buprenorphine. This project updates and expands that analysis to include MAT with naltrexone and methadone. This study aids the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in identifying opportunities to improve the recognition, diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorders, and the quality of care received by individuals with substance use disorders.