Abstract
The U.S. government declared the opioid epidemic as a national public health emergency in 2017, but regulatory frameworks that govern the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) through pharmaceutical interventions have remained inflexible. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has effectively removed regulatory restrictions that experts in the field of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) have been proposing for decades and has expanded access to care. The regulatory flexibilities implemented to avoid unnecessary COVID-related death must be made permanent to ensure that improved access to evidence-based treatment remains available to vulnerable individuals with OUD who otherwise face formidable barriers to MOUD. We must seize this moment of COVOD-19 regulatory flexibilities to demonstrate the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of delivering treatment for OUD through a low-threshold approach.
【저자키워드】 Buprenorphine, Opioid use disorder, Medications for opioid use disorder, Structural stigma, Regulations, Barriers to care, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, feasibility, COVID-19 pandemic, Regulatory, Epidemic, death, public health emergency, medication, Care, Government, individual, disorder, National, approach, remained, pharmaceutical intervention, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, Treatment, Regulatory, disorder,