Americans Unaware of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Primary Care: Daily Dose

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

Last week, we reported on findings from a survey published in JAMA Network Open that examined Americans' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about opioid use disorder treatment in primary care.

The study

Researchers designed survey questions on patient awareness of and comfort around seeking medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) from PCPs. These questions were added to a June 2023 survey conducted in English and Spanish by the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network. The survey was offered online and by telephone to a nationally representative sample of adults 18 years and older.

A total of 1234 individuals (56.5% women) responded to the survey, of whom 11.5% were Black, 15.2% were Hispanic or Latino, 68.4% White, 4.8% as other or with 2 or more races.

The findings

• 61.4% of respondents were unaware that a PCP could prescribe MOUD and 13.3% incorrectly believed a PCP could not.

• 53.9% of respondents agreed and 24.9% strongly agreed that a PCP office should offer MOUD.

• Among 266 respondents with any history of opioid misuse, 50.6% stated they would be very comfortable and 30.7% said they would be somewhat comfortable personally seeking MOUD from their PCP.

• Among 945 participants with no history of opioid misuse, 31.9% said they would be very comfortable and 42.0% would be somewhat comfortable referring a loved one to their PCP for MOUD.

• In aggregate, Black respondents (20.9% weighted) were most likely to believe they could not receive MOUD through their PCP.

Authors' comment

“We’ve made great strides in making it easier for primary care doctors to prescribe these safe and effective treatments, but our study indicates a critical disconnect between the need for medications for opioid use disorder and people’s knowledge about how to access them. Science, public health, insurance, policy, and public perception all must align to improve access to treatment."

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