A new study of organizations that claim to provide residential opioid substance use services in North Carolina found that only 12% of the organizations were licensed by the state to provide residential substance use treatment. What's more, only about a quarter of the organizations even allowed patients to access the only treatment for opioid use disorder proven to reduce overdose deaths. We wanted to know how many organizations in North Carolina that purport to provide residential opioid substance use services actually provide patients with evidence-based treatment or allow patients to access evidence-based treatment services.
Specifically, we wanted to know how many of these organizations allowed patients to access opioid agonist treatment (OAT)." Jennifer Carroll, Study Lead Author and Associate Professor, Anthropology, North Carolina State University OAT refers to treatment services that use FDA-approved opioid medications, such as methadone or buprenorphine, to treat addiction and help patients cease illicit substance use. "We focused on OAT because OAT programs have better outcomes than other treatments by virtually every measure – and have also been proven to cut the risk of overdose deaths in half," Carroll says.
For the study, researchers conducted a statewide inventory of residential substance use service providers in North Carolina. The researchers then had "secret shoppers" pose as people seeking help for heroin addiction and call every organization that claimed .