Association of economic and racial segregation with restricted buprenorphine dispensing in U.S. community pharmacies

Background: Timely and reliable dispensing of buprenorphine is critical to accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Racial and ethnic inequities in OUD treatment access are well described, but it remains unclear if inequities persist at the point of dispensing. Methods: We analyzed data from a U.S. telephone audit that measured restricted buprenorphine dispensing in community pharmacies, defined as inability to fill a buprenorphine prescription requested by a “secret shopper.” Using the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE), we constructed county-level measures of racial, ethnic, economic, and racialized economic (joint racial and economic segregation) segregation. Logistic regression models evaluated the association of ICE measures and restricted buprenorphine dispensing, adjusting for county type (urban vs. rural) and pharmacy type (chain vs. independent). Results: Among 858 pharmacies surveyed in 473 counties, pharmacies in the most ethnically segregated and economically deprived counties had 2.66 times the odds (95 % CI: 1.41, 5.17) of restricting buprenorphine dispensing, compared to pharmacies in the most privileged counties after adjustment. Pharmacies in counties with high racialized economic segregation (quintile 2 and 3) also had higher odds of restricting buprenorphine dispensing (aOR 3.09 [95 % CI 1.7, 5.59]; aOR 2.11 [95 % CI 1.17, 3.98]). Similar associations were observed for economic segregation (aOR: 2.18 [95 % CI: 1.21, 3.99]), but not ethnic (0.59 [0.34, 1.05]) or racial (0.61 [0.35, 1.07]) segregation alone. Conclusions: Restricted buprenorphine dispensing was most pronounced in socially and economically disadvantaged communities, potentially exacerbating gaps in OUD treatment access. Policy interventions should target both prescribing and dispensing capacity to advance pharmacoequity.