A new op-ed on STAT News highlights a troubling concern in regard to medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Author David A. Patterson Silver Wolf, PhD, opined that the reason why methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone aren’t more widely used to treat opioid use disorders (OUDs) may be due to “branding”—specifically, concern on the part of primary care physicians about the stigma associated with OUDs and its effect on their practice.
But as Silver Wolf noted, the toll taken by the opioid epidemic on individuals and families all but required physicians to undertake the necessary steps to prescribe MAT, despite any qualms they may have.