The Rural and Urban Supply of Clinicians With a DEA Waiver to Prescribe Buprenorphine in 2022 Prior to the Elimination of the Waiver Requirement

Among key findings from the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center:

  • Overall, the supply of eligible clinicians grew in both rural and urban counties in the five years from 2017 to 2022.
  • Despite this growth, more rural counties lacked waivered clinicians (30.1 percent) compared to urban counties (10.4 percent) in 2022, and rural counties had a lower overall supply of clinicians per 100,000 population (25.2) compared to urban counties (32.6).
  • Small and remote rural counties had the greatest proportion of counties without a clinician (41.3 percent) compared to other rural counties.