Financial Incentives For Hospitals Lead To Better Follow-Up Rates For Opioid Addiction

A financial incentive program for Pennsylvania emergency departments (EDs) to start medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction (OUD) modestly increased rates of buprenorphine treatment post-discharge among Medicaid beneficiaries.

Before participating in Pennsylvania’s Opioid Hospital Quality Improvement Program (O-HQIP) incentive program, hospitals saw a rate of 5% of opioid-related ED visitors filling a buprenorphine prescription. This increased to 7.6% after hospitals implemented the program. At hospitals that did not participate in the O-HQIP the post-ED-visit buprenorphine fill rate remained at about 5%.

O-HQIP started in 2020. It pays participating Pennsylvania hospitals . . .