Examining the use of telehealth to initiate buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment, in Health Affairs Scholar
key takeaway: "Our findings highlight increases in the use of telehealth for buprenorphine initiation beginning in 2020. Building on prior work showing a pandemic-era increase in tele-initiation of MOUD for Medicaid beneficiaries,1 our results demonstrate consistent increases in tele-initiation across insured groups. Primary care physicians prescribe most buprenorphine in the United States7 but were less likely to initiate buprenorphine via telehealth compared with behavioral health physicians."
Detection of Illegally Manufactured Fentanyls and Carfentanil in Drug Overdose Deaths — United States, 2021–2024, in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
key takeaway: "Overdose deaths overall and with IMFs detected began declining in 2023. Percentages of overdose deaths with IMFs detected were stable (approximately 70%–80%) during 2021–2024, except in the West where the percentage increased from 48.5% to 66.5%. Although rare, deaths with carfentanil detected increased approximately sevenfold, from 29 during January–June 2023 to 238 during January–June 2024; 37 states reported carfentanil detection."
State Parental Consent Law and Treatment Use Among Adolescents With Depression, in JAMA Pediatrics
key takeaway: "Adjusting for state-level prevalence estimates of adolescent MDE showed that adolescents with past-year MDE in states with laws prohibiting independent adolescent consent for mental health treatment were significantly less likely to receive treatment (F1,46 = 11.18; P = .002; η2p = .21) (Table 2). In states that prohibited this consent, the mean (SE) proportion of adolescents with MDE receiving any treatment in 2021 to 2022 was only 37.2% (2.3%) compared with 46.7% (1.7%) in states allowing adolescents to consent with no or limited stipulations."