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Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Waivers to Prescribe Buprenorphine and State Scope of Practice Restrictions

Author(s): 

Joanne Spetz, Christopher Toretsky, Susan Chapman, Bethany Phoenix, and Matthew Tierney

Date: 
April 10, 2019
Source: 
JAMA

There is a shortage of clinicians authorized to prescribe medications to treat opioid use disorder. Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) were allowed to obtain waivers to prescribe buprenorphine beginning in 2016. They investigated the proportions of NPs and PAs with waivers in 2018 and the association with state regulations that restrict their scope of practice.