[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-434880-105":3,"doc-detail-434880-en":81,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":99},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","buprenorphine-dispensation-after-x-waiver-elimination-by-clinician-specialty","Buprenorphine Dispensation After X-Waiver Elimination by Clinician Specialty","","Elimination of the X-waiver removed an extra registration barrier for clinicians prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder. This study assessed whether the policy change altered buprenorphine dispensations by clinician specialty. Interrupted time-series analyses (2025) used IQVIA longitudinal prescription data for patients receiving at least 15 days of monthly supply from May 2021 to December 2024. Overall and across specialties, X-waiver elimination increased clinician association with prescriptions, while patient-level gains were limited and showed an early January 2023 decrease overall.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/buprenorphine-dispensation-after-x-waiver-elimination-by-clinician-specialty/434880/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/buprenorphine-dispensation-after-x-waiver-elimination-by-clinician-specialty/434880.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Stanley","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-07","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",13,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What policy change did the study evaluate?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study evaluated elimination of the X-waiver, which had required additional registration for clinicians to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How did the researchers measure changes after X-waiver elimination?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Using IQVIA longitudinal prescription data, the study identified patients with at least 15 days of dispensed buprenorphine supply each month from May 2021 to December 2024 and applied interrupted time series analyses.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What were the main findings for clinicians versus patients?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"After X-waiver elimination, the number of clinicians associated with dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions increased across specialties, but patient-level gains were limited, including a decrease in patients with dispensations in January 2023 overall.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},434880,1790833580,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",{"doc_id":79,"user_id":84,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":85,"doc_module":4,"category_id":86,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":87,"file_id":88,"file_url":89,"file_type":90,"file_size":91,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":92,"language":93,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":94,"faqs":95,"seo_title":96,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":97,"read_time":98,"preview_page_count":4},2336477405376,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",7,"Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript  \n\n| | HHS Public Access\u003Cbr>Author manuscript\u003Cbr>Am J Prev Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2026 January 05. |\n| --- | --- |\n\nPublished in final edited form as:  \nAm J Prev Med. 2025 November ; 69(5): 108055. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2025.108055 .  \nBuprenorphine Dispensation After X-Waiver Elimination by Clinician Specialty  \nElizabeth M. Stone, PhD 1,2 , Fangzhou Xie, MA 1,3 , Jennifer Miles, PhD 1,2 , Hillary Samples, PhD 1,4 , Mark Olfson, MD, MPH5 , Stephen Crystal, PhD 1,6  \n1 Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, New Brunswick, New Jersey  \n2 Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey  \n3 Department of Economics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey  \n4 Rutgers School of Public Health, New Brunswick, New Jersey  \n5 Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York  \n6School of Social Work, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey  \nAbstract  \nIntroduction: Elimination ofthe X-waiver, which required clinicians to complete additional registration to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, removed one barrier to treatment. This study examined the association ofthe X-waiver elimination with buprenorphine dispensations by clinician specialty.  \nMethods: Using IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription data, patients with 15 or more days of dispensed buprenorphine supply each month from May 2021 to December 2024 were identified.  \nInterrupted time series analyses (conducted in 2025) examined changes in monthly counts of clinicians associated with dispensations and patients, overall and stratified by clinician specialty.  \nResults: During the study period, 189,771 clinicians dispensed buprenorphine to 2,699,441 patients. X-waiver elimination was associated with significant increases in the number of clinicians associated with dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions overall (change in level= 1,626 clinicians; 95% CI=577, 2,674; p\u003C0.01; change in slope: 15 clinicians per month, 95% CI=13, 18, p\u003C0.001) and across all specialties. X-waiver elimination was associated with a decrease in the number of patients with buprenorphine dispensations in January 2023 overall (change in level= −24,104 patients; 95% CI= −40,010, −8,198; p\u003C0.01) and from all clinician groups except behavioral health physicians. Decreasing monthly rates of patients with buprenorphine  \nThis is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)).  \nAddress correspondence to: Elizabeth M. Stone, PhD, Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, 112 Paterson Street, Room 305, [New Brunswick NJ 08901. elizabeth.stone@rutgers.edu](New Brunswick NJ 08901. elizabeth.stone@rutgers.edu).  \nCREDIT AUTHOR STATEMENT  \nElizabeth M. Stone: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft.  \nFangzhou Xie: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Software, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. Jennifer Miles: Conceptualization, Resources, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Hillary Samples: Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Mark Olfson: Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Stephen Crystal: Conceptualization, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.  \nAuthor Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript  \nStone et al. Page 2  \ndispensed by behavioral health physicians slowed after X-waiver elimination; monthly rates of buprenorphine patients with dispensations from primary care providers increased after (versus before) the policy change.  \nConclusions: Although the number of clinicians associated with dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions after X-waiver elimination increased across all clinician types, patient-level gains associated with X-waiver elimination were limi","cbCaivrBnsCVhbvf","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivrBnsCVhbvf","pdf",215038,10,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Methods\n# Results\n# Conclusions\n# References","[{\"question\":\"What policy change did the study evaluate?\",\"answer\":\"The study evaluated elimination of the X-waiver, which had required additional registration for clinicians to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the researchers measure changes after X-waiver elimination?\",\"answer\":\"Using IQVIA longitudinal prescription data, the study identified patients with at least 15 days of dispensed buprenorphine supply each month from May 2021 to December 2024 and applied interrupted time series analyses.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main findings for clinicians versus patients?\",\"answer\":\"After X-waiver elimination, the number of clinicians associated with dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions increased across specialties, but patient-level gains were limited, including a decrease in patients with dispensations in January 2023 overall.\"}]","Buprenorphine Dispensation After X-Waiver Elimination by Clinician Specialty | PDF",1790670939,25,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":100},[101,105,109,113,118,123,126,131,136,139,142],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":86,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":125},40,"healthcare",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":129,"slug":130},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":134,"slug":135},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":134,"slug":138},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":92,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":140,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":141},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":143,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":144,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":145},19,"General","general"]