Receipt of medications for opioid use disorders among veterans by race/ethnicity and legal involvement: an observational study of electronic health records.

Finlay AK, Pivovarova E, Yu M, Timko C, Binswanger IA, Smelson D, Taylor E, Harris AHS. Receipt of medications for opioid use disorders among veterans by race/ethnicity and legal involvement: an observational study of electronic health records. Health & justice. 2025 Apr 29; 13(1):28, DOI: 10.1186/s40352-025-00336-6.

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Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The Veterans Health Administration has made strides to improve access to medications for opioid use disorder overall. However, quality improvement methods to assess treatment gaps may not sufficiently detect differences in medication access by intersecting patient factors, which may have multiplicative rather than additive effects. This study aimed to determine whether race/ethnicity and legal involvement interact in receipt of medications for opioid use disorder among Veterans Health Administration patients. METHODS: Using national electronic health record data from Fiscal Years 2021-2022, we examined the receipt of medications for opioid use disorder among veterans diagnosed with opioid use disorder who received healthcare at Veterans Health Administration facilities (n  =  65,883). We conducted a mixed effects multivariable logistic regression model to examine an interaction effect of race/ethnicity and legal involvement with receipt of any medications for opioid use disorder, both unadjusted and adjusted for patient and facility characteristics. RESULTS: In an adjusted logistic regression model, the interaction effect indicated that non-Hispanic Black veterans with legal involvement had the lowest odds of medications for opioid use disorder receipt compared to non-Hispanic White veterans without legal involvement (adjusted odds ratio  =  0.67, 95% confidence interval  =  0.59-0.77, p  < .0001). Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native patients without legal involvement (adjusted odds ratio  =  0.85, 95% confidence interval  =  0.73-0.99, p  = .04) also had lower odds of receipt of medications for opioid use disorder compared to non-Hispanic White patients without legal involvement. Non-Hispanic White veterans with legal involvement (adjusted odds ratio  =  1.07, 95% confidence interval  =  1.01-1.14, p  = .03) had higher odds of receipt of medications for opioid use disorder compared to non-Hispanic White patients without legal involvement. CONCLUSIONS: Veterans Health Administration quality improvement efforts should monitor interacting racial and legal status factors and understand and address patient, clinical, and regulatory barriers to medications for opioid use disorder among Black veterans with legal involvement.