Annual buprenorphine prescriptions per 1,000 Medicaid enrollees aged 12 and up, by state Medicaid expansion status, between 2011 and 2018 (estimated)

The high rates of buprenorphine prescribing in 2019 expansion states are likely skewed because Maine, one of the two states that expanded Medicaid in 2019, has long relied on buprenorphine almost exclusively to treat opioid addiction and has generally had higher buprenorphine prescribing rates than the rest of the country, researchers said.