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The number of obstetrician-gynecologists who are able to prescribe a lifesaving opioid addiction medicine called buprenorphine to their patients is woefully small, comprising less than two percent of the 31,000-plus doctors studied across the country, according to new analysis. This is especially concerning as the proportion of those expecting to give birth who are using prescription opioids has increased exponentially in the last several decades. The researchers findings were published today in
JAMA Network Open. There is room for OB-GYNs to curb the opioid epidemic by filling gaps we see in treatment of pregnant patients, said the study s lead author, Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako, MS, a medical student at Yale University who worked on this research as a fellow at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. Many of those who are getting substance use care are also not getting any reproductive care at all, so there s also a potential bridge oppor