Opioid Use Disorder and the Covid 19 Pandemic: A Call to Sustain Regulatory Easements and Further Expand Access to Treatment
Traci C. Green, Jeffrey Bratberg, Deborah S. Finnell
Abstract
We highlight the critical roles that pharmacists have related to sustaining and advancing the changes being made in the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that patients have more seamless and less complex access to treatment. Discussed herein is how the current COVID-19 pandemic is impacting persons with substance use disorders, barriers that persist, and the opportunities that arise as regulations around treatments for this population are eased.
Topics & Concepts
PandemicOpioid use disorderCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Substance usePopulation2019-20 coronavirus outbreakMedicineSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)OpioidBusinessPsychiatryEnvironmental healthVirologyDiseaseInfectious disease (medical specialty)OutbreakPathologyInternal medicineReceptorOpioid Use Disorder TreatmentPharmaceutical Practices and Patient OutcomesPoisoning and overdose treatments