OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to compare the Cincinnati region (Cincinnati) to the United States (US) with respect to the length of time to obtain treatment, and planned medication-assisted therapy for the treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD).

METHODS

The 2017 Treatment Episode Data Set – Admissions from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration was used to identify individuals with OUD admitted for treatment. All admissions with a primary substance use of opioids, including opioid derivatives were included. The data were stratified into two cohorts, Cincinnati and US. Logistic regression models were performed to assess the differences for treatment wait time and type of planned treatment. To adjust for confounding, model covariates included patient demographics and socioeconomic characteristics.

RESULTS

There were 678,766 US and 3,298 Cincinnati region individuals admitted for OUD treatment in 2017. The rate per 1000 for treatment admissions was 2.08 and 1.51 (p-value <0.0001) for the US and Cincinnati, respectively. A higher percentage of the US admissions received planned medication-assisted therapy compared to the Cincinnati (38.6% vs. 21.8%; p-value <0.0001). Initially, those admitted for treatment in seven days or less in Cincinnati had a shorter wait time than those in the US (70.6% vs. 58.4%; p-value <0.0001). The logistic regression results found that the odds of Cincinnati individuals receiving planned-medication assisted therapy was 0.497 (95% CI, 0.451 to 0.546; p-value <0.001). The odds of waiting longer for treatment in Cincinnati were higher than the US. The odds were 2.33 (95% CI, 2.19 to 2.48; p-value <0.001). The models were robust to alternative specifications.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals seeking treatment for OUD in Cincinnati were less likely to receive planned-medication assisted therapy and were more likely to wait longer than individuals in US. These results suggest that the demand for treatment is greater than the supply in Cincinnati.