Buprenorphine, an FDA-approved medication for addiction treatment and pain relief, cuts opioid overdose death rates in half. Yet nearly 80% of Americans with opioid use disorder (OUD) do not receive buprenorphine or other medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

Practitioners who wish to prescribe buprenorphine must complete a waiver application which can be found on the SAMHSA website.

Buprenorphine: An Overview for Clinicians (PDF) provides answers to frequently asked questions, aiming to increase prescriber comfort with prescribing buprenorphine throughout the health care system. Once the basics are mastered, buprenorphine can be as straightforward to prescribe as medications for other medical conditions. It covers the following topics:

About Buprenorphine

• Buprenorphine compared to methadone and naltrexone
• Accessibility obstacles
• How to start a patient on buprenorphine
• Where can a patient start buprenorphine?

Dosage, Duration, and Monitoring

• Maintenance dosage
• Treatment duration: detox, maintenance, tapering
• Monitoring and diversion
• Substance use
• Behavioral health treatments

Pain Management with Buprenorphine

• Advantages of using buprenorphine for chronic pain
• Elderly patients with chronic pain
• Treating pain in the emergency department and hospital
• Hospitalized and perioperative patients on buprenorphine

Legal and Administrative Facts

• Laws regulating buprenorphine prescribing
• Getting prescriptions approved by health plans
• Documentation required by federal and/or California laws