# Associations Between State Policies Facilitating Telehealth and Buprenorphine Episode Initiation and Duration Early in the COVID Pandemic: State Telehealth Policies and Buprenorphine

## TL;DR

This study examines how state telehealth policies during the early pandemic affected buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence on the impact of telehealth policies on buprenorphine treatment initiation and duration.

## Key findings

- There was little change in new buprenorphine treatment episodes in 2020 compared to 2019.
- States with telehealth parity policies had 7.3% fewer new buprenorphine episodes.
- States joining the psychologist interstate compact had longer treatment episodes.

## Abstract

State policies facilitating telehealth implemented early in COVID may support buprenorphine treatment of opioid use disorder. However, little empirical information is available about those policies’ effects.

Examine association between state policies that may facilitate telehealth use and buprenorphine treatment.

Retrospective cohort study using 2019–2020 national pharmacy data on dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions.

State policies implemented after March 3, 2020, public health emergency declaration requiring private insurers’ telehealth reimbursement to be commensurate with in-person service reimbursement, authorizing Medicaid reimbursement for audio-only telehealth, allowing physicians to provide cross-state telehealth services, and allowing psychologists to provide cross-state telehealth services.

(a) Duration of treatment episodes started between March 1 and March 13 in both 2019 and 2020, and (b) daily numbers of new buprenorphine treatment episodes from March 13 through December 31 in each year.

We found little change in the number of new buprenorphine treatment episodes started in 2020 compared to 2019 and an increase in treatment duration of 10.3 days (95%CI 8.3 to 12.2 days) for episodes started in March 2020 before the public health emergency declaration compared to the comparable 2019 period. States implementing a telehealth parity policy in 2020 had 7.3% (95%CI − 13.3% to − 0.4%) fewer new buprenorphine treatment episodes. States joining the psychologist interstate compact in 2020 after the public health emergency declaration had treatment episodes 7.97 days longer (95%CI 0.78 to 15.16) than other states. None of the other policies examined was associated with changes in new treatment episodes or treatment duration.

Policies undertaken during the pandemic we examined were associated with few significant changes in buprenorphine treatment initiation and duration. Findings suggest realizing the benefits of telehealth and other policy changes for buprenorphine may require more extensive implementation and infrastructure support.