Identifying Barriers to Buprenorphine Treatment for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder among Anesthesiologists and Pain Practitioners: A Survey Study

Identifying Barriers to Buprenorphine Treatment for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder among Anesthesiologists and Pain Practitioners:  A Survey Study

Published: March/April 2023

Journal Article

Overview

This one-hour, on-demand, journal article-based activity examines the barriers that acute and chronic pain physicians and advanced practice providers face in offering opioid use disorder (OUD) care, particularly as it pertains to prescribing buprenorphine therapy for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment.

The target audience for this intermediate activity includes physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other clinicians, researchers and academics, residents, fellows, students and counselors and policymakers.

This activity addresses the following ACGME Competencies: Patient Care and Procedural Skills, Medical Knowledge, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism, and Systems Based Practice.

Please Note: That recent legislation has removed the waiver requirement to prescribe buprenorphine. Some of the course content and descriptions refer to the waiver and we appreciate your patience as we work to update this content. To learn more about federal buprenorphine prescribing regulations, check out Policies Governing Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder.

Article Abstract

Objectives: To investigate barriers to Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) care among acute and chronic pain physicians and advanced care providers, including hypothesized barriers of lack of interest in OUD care and stigma towards this patient population.

Methods: Anonymous 16-item online survey through Google Forms. Respondents were 153 health practitioners across the US and Canada, all of whom are registered in one of several pain or anesthesia professional societies. Data were analyzed with descriptive and categorical statistics.

Results: The most common barriers include “lack of appropriate clinical environment for prescribing by both acute and chronic pain practitioners” (48%) and “lack of administrative/departmental support” (46%). A total of 32% of respondents reported that OUD care was important but they were not interested in doing more, while 28% of practitioners believed that they treat patients with OUD differently than others in a negative way. More males reported “difficulty” in treating OUD as a barrier (45% vs 25%). Chronic pain practitioners reported poor payor mix as a barrier twice as often as their acute pain colleagues. In free response, lack of multidisciplinary OUD care was a notable barrier.

Conclusions: The top barriers to OUD treatment were clinical environment, departmental support, difficulty in treating the condition and payor mix, supporting the hypotheses. Given an OUD patient scenario, 55% of acute pain physicians and 73% of chronic pain physicians expressed a willingness to prescribe buprenorphine.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion, learners will be able to:

1. To identify barriers to opioid use disorder (OUD) care among acute and chronic pain physicians and advanced practice providers, including barriers to prescribing buprenorphine therapy in clinical settings.

Registration Rates

*Residents, Fellows-in-training, Interns, and Students must join ASAM to receive a discounted registration rate. Click here to become an ASAM member. National and Chapter membership dues apply. There is no charge for Students to become a Member, but verification of student status is required.

Membership Question?  Call ASAM at 1.301.656.3920, email us, or view the ASAM website for more information.

Refunds & Cancellations

All ASAM eLearning Center refund requests must be made in writing to education@asam.org within 90 days of purchase. Those requesting refunds for courses that are in progress will receive partial refunds or eLearning Center credit. Automatic full refunds will be made for any course with a live-course component that has been cancelled.

Registration Deadline: 03/13/2026

Course Instructions

1. Click on the Contents tab to begin this activity.
2. Click View Journal Article and read the journal article in its entirety. 
3. Click Complete Post Test to answer multiple choice questions. Participants will have 10 attempts to pass and must answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly.
4. Click Complete Evaluation to provide valuable activity feedback. Scroll down on all questions as there may be answer options that expand past the size of the window.
5. Click the button Claim Medical Credits in the box titled Claim Credits & Certificate. Choose the type of credit and click submit. Click the button View/Print Certificate to save or print your certificate. You can view/print your certificate at any time by visiting the ASAM eLearning Center, clicking Dashboard, and clicking Transcript/Achievements.

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CME, CE, CEU and Other Credit Types

ACCME Accreditation Statement
The American Society of Addiction Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Society of Addiction Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals
This activity has been approved by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #295, ASAM is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

National Board for Certified Counselors ACEP
The American Society of Addiction Medicine has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7062. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The American Society of Addiction Medicine is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

California Association for Drug/Alcohol Educators (CAADE)
This educational program is approved by CAADE: #CP40 999 1225.

California Association of DUI Treatment Centers (CADTP)
This educational program is approved by CADTP: #205.

California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP)
This educational program is approved by CCAPP: #OS-20-330-1224.

Continuing Education Credits (CEUs)
Non-physician participants will receive a certificate of attendance upon completion of the activity and an online evaluation confirming their participation. Participants should submit his/her certificate of attendance to their professional organization/institute.

Maintenance of Certification (MOC) or Continuing Certification Programs (CCP)

American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM)
The American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) has approved this activity for a maximum of 1 credit towards ABPM MOC Part II requirements.

American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA)
This activity contributes to the CME component of the American Board of Anesthesiology’s redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology TM (MOCA®) program, known as MOCA 2.0®.

American Board of Pediatrics (ABP)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the activity, with individual assessments of the participant and feedback to the participant, enables the participant to earn a maximum of 1 MOC point in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABP MOC credit.

American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1 Medical Knowledge MOC point in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credits.

American Board of Surgery (ABS)
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME and/or Self-Assessment requirements of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)
Successful completion of this CME activity can be used to satisfy the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s (ABPN) CME requirement for Maintenance of Certification program. 

American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM)
Successful completion of this activity can be used to satisfy the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) Tmoc credit requirements.

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)
Royal College Fellows can use participation in Accredited Continuing Medical Education to earn Section 3 Credits.

Disclosure Information

In accordance with disclosure policies of ASAM and the ACCME, the effort is made to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all CME/CE activities. These policies include mitigating all possible relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies for the Planning Committees and Presenters. All activity Planning Committee members and Faculty have disclosed relevant financial relationship information. 

The Journal of Addiction Medicine has reviewed these disclosures and determined that the relationships are not inappropriate in the context of their respective presentations and are not inconsistent with the educational goals and integrity of the activity.