Even as the administration is implementing a new law that makes it easier for doctors to prescribe a lifesaving drug to treat opioid use disorder, the DEA subjects the drug to such strict regulation that many are reluctant to dispense it.
Pharmacies that do stock the drug are left trying to anticipate when and if they are going to cross an unknown limit. The distributors who agreed to the national opioid settlement — and who have not admitted to any wrongdoing — are prohibited from telling pharmacies what their individual thresholds are.
Eric Ketcham, an addiction medicine specialist and emergency physician for the Presbyterian Healthcare System in New Mexico, has spent years training other providers on how to prescribe buprenorphine. McKesson, one of the three largest distributors in the nation, did not respond to a request for comment. Cardinal Health, another, directed POLITICO to the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a trade group that represents it.
AmerisourceBergen, one of the three largest distributors in the nation, echoed the HDA’s call for clear federal guidance. | Matt Rourke/AP Photo Martin of Boulder Care said the country’s primary care system isn’t ready to handle routine treatment for opioid use disorder. “This is being paid for as though I’m seeing someone with high blood pressure,” Martin said. “It’s completely incommensurate with the knowledge and time and complexity that it deserves.”
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