Increasing North Carolina's Workforce Capacity for Prescribing Buprenorphine Products

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine

Background:

• Opioid use disorder (OUD) presents a significant public health challenge, with rising mortality rates and limited treatment access, especially in rural North Carolina.
• Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), including buprenorphine prescribed by DEA-X-waivered providers, is crucial for effective OUD treatment.
• Existing continuing professional education and academic training programs have gaps in equipping healthcare professionals to manage OUD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe an interdisciplinary training initiative aimed at increasing the capacity of medical residencies and APP programs in North Carolina to provide MOUD.
• To evaluate the uptake and identify facilitators and barriers to implementing substance use disorder (SUD) and MAT training within these educational programs.

Main Methods:

• An interdisciplinary team delivered subsidized, needs-based trainings on SUD treatment and MAT to medical residency and APP programs across North Carolina.
• The initiative focused on enhancing providers' ability to administer MOUD and obtain DEA-X waivers.
• Training uptake was independently evaluated to assess program effectiveness.

Main Results:

• The project surpassed initial goals, delivering 72 MAT-related trainings to 1512 providers from 30 residency and 7 APP programs.
• A total of 902 participants completed the training required for DEA-X waiver eligibility.
• Key facilitators and barriers to training implementation were identified for both resident and APP trainees.

Conclusions:

• The project demonstrated a successful and potentially replicable model for building MAT capacity within medical education settings.
• Integrating structured training with technical assistance (TA) effectively enhances healthcare professionals' ability to treat OUD.
• Addressing workforce capacity is essential for improving equitable and patient-centered OUD treatment access.