Racial Disparities Across Provider Specialties in Opioid Prescriptions Dispensed to Medicaid Beneficiaries with Chronic Noncancer Pain

Abstract

Our findings suggest that, in our study population, black beneficiaries with CNCP are less likely than whites to fill prescriptions for opioid analgesics as a function of their provider's specialty. Although race-based differences in patients filling opioid prescriptions have been noted in previous studies, this is the first study that clearly demonstrates these disparities by provider specialty.