The effect of British Columbia's Pharmacare coverage expansion for opioid agonist treatment. (12th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hongdilokkul, Natt; Krebs, Emanuel; Zang, Xiao; Zhou, Haoxuan; Homayra, Fahmida; Min, Jeong Eun; Nosyk, Bohdan
• Is Part Of: Health economics. Volume 30:Number 5(2021)
• Page Start: 1222
• Page End: 1238
• Publication Date: 2021-03-12
• Subjects: insurance -- opioid agonist treatment -- opioid use disorder -- public health -- substance abuse -- treatment retention; Medical economics -- Periodicals; Economics, Medical -- Periodicals; Health Care Costs -- Periodicals; Health Policy -- economics -- Periodicals; Health Services -- economics -- Periodicals; 362.1
• DOI: 10.1002/hec.4255
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1057-9230

Abstract

Abstract: Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is the evidence‐based standard of care for people with opioid use disorder. In British Columbia, Canada, only social assistance registrants received full coverage for OAT prior to the introduction of the Pharmacare Plan G coverage expansion on February 1st, 2017. We aimed to determine the effect of the coverage expansion on OAT initiation, re‐initiation, and retention. Using linked population‐level data, we executed a difference‐in‐differences analysis to compare outcomes of individuals eligible for the additional coverage and social assistance registrants already receiving the most generous coverage for OAT prior to the policy change, adjusting for individual and prescriber characteristics. We found Plan G coverage expansion significantly increased OAT retention. Specifically, coverage expansion decreased the number of OAT episode discontinuations by 12.8% (95% CI: 8.4%, 17.2%).