Importance Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major public health concern; medications for AUD (MAUD) are an effective form of treatment but remain underused. Identifying MAUD access trends and the characteristics of counties with limited availability can inform targeted efforts to expand treatment capacity. Objective To examine trends in geographic availability of MAUD at US substance use disorder treatment facilities (SUDTFs) from 2017 to 2023 and assess county characteristics associated with SUDTFs offering MAUD. Design, Setting, and Participants This nationwide cross-sectional study used data from the Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Tracking Repository, which includes longitudinal data on licensed SUDTFs and whether they offer MAUD (acamprosate, disulfiram, or naltrexone), to quantify trends in MAUD availability at SUDTFs from January 2017 to December 2023. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was a county-year indicator for whether at least 1 SUDTF in the county offered MAUD. Explanatory county variables included rurality, percentage of traffic fatalities involving alcohol, percentage of the population that drank excessively, percentage of uninsured individuals, poverty rate, percentage of individuals over age 65 years, and percentage of non-Hispanic White individuals. Univariate logistic regressions with state and year fixed effects were used to explore associations between county characteristics and the probability that a county had any SUDTFs offering MAUD. Results Across 22 000 county-years in a total of 3153 counties, the mean (SD) percentage of counties with at least 1 SUDTF offering MAUD increased from 34.12% (47.42%) in 2017 to 43.88% (49.63%) in 2021, but growth plateaued after 2021. Lower MAUD presence in a county was associated with rural-adjacent (difference, −22.40 percentage points pp; 95% CI, −24.43 to −20.38 pp) and rural-remote (−23.64 pp; 95% CI, −25.72 to −21.56 pp) relative to metropolitan county status as well as with a higher poverty rate (−0.66 pp; 95% CI, −0.93 to −0.38 pp), greater percentage of individuals aged 65 years or older (−2.33 pp; 95% CI, −3.02 to −1.65 pp), and higher proportion of non-Hispanic White individuals (−0.58 pp; 95% CI, −0.71 to −0.46 pp), whereas greater prevalence of binge drinking (difference, 1.90 pp; 95% CI, 1.26-2.54 pp) and a higher percentage of college-educated individuals (1.28 pp; 95% CI, 1.13-1.43) were associated with higher MAUD presence. Conclusions and Relevance In this cross-sectional study, the proportion of SUDTFs offering MAUD increased from 2017 to 2021, but growth then plateaued. Policies supporting the expansion of MAUD-providing facilities, particularly in underserved counties, may be needed to address persistent gaps in access.
Mizushima et al. (Mon,) studied this question.