Pharmacy-based methadone dispensing and drive time to methadone treatment in five states within the United States: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Within the United States, there is a shortage of opioid treatment programs (OTPs), facilities which dispense methadone for opioid use disorder. It is unknown how pharmacy-based methadone dispensing, as available internationally, could affect methadone access. We aimed to compare drive times to the nearest OTP with drive times to the nearest chain pharmacy in urban and rural census tracts.

Methods

Cross-sectional geospatial analysis of 2018 OTP location data and 2017 pharmacy location data. We included census tracts with non-zero population in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia, states with highest rates of opioid overdose deaths. Our outcome was minimum drive time in minutes from census tract mean center of population to the nearest dispensing fa

SUBMITTER: Joudrey PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7529685 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature