Washington State’s Medication Assisted Treatment – Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction Project – Preliminary Outcomes through Year Two

This report examines years one and two of program implementation for the Washington State Medication Assisted Treatment – Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (MAT-PDOA) program. MAT-PDOA was a three year, federally funded initiative to increase access to MAT with buprenorphine in Grays Harbor, King, and Thurston counties and was awarded to Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services in August 2015. Building upon the success of year one, MAT-PDOA provided MAT with buprenorphine to 532 patients through year two and 51 percent of all enrolled patients were in the program for a year or longer. At six months after enrollment in treatment, MAT-PDOA patients reported significant reductions in alcohol and drug use rates, including any opioids, cannabis and methamphetamine. Similar to year one findings, self-reported reductions in adverse outcomes related to opioid use disorder, including improvements in employment and school enrollment, reductions in inpatient and emergency department utilization, and increases in outpatient service utilization were seen six months after enrollment.