Referrals and Treatment Completion for Prescription Opioid Admissions: Five Years of National Data

•Less than 10% of referrals for prescription opioids came from healthcare sources.•Those referred by healthcare sources experience lower treatment completion.•White females represent a greater percentage of prescription opioid admissions.

This study examines sources of referral for prescription opioid admission to substance use disorder treatment facilities and their relative completion success rates using secondary analysis of an existing data set (treatment episode datasets—discharge). Five years of data from public and private treatment facilities were extracted for client discharges with no prior treatment (N = 2,909,884). Healthcare professionals account for very few referrals to treatment (< 10%). Prescription opioid clients referred into treatment had lower treatment success compared to other substance clients and when referred by healthcare providers had lower success rates (OR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.70–0.75) than clients from other referral sources. Fewer treatment referrals for prescription opioid misuse by healthcare providers and lower success rates are significant and timely findings due to the prevalence of prescription opioid misuse. Healthcare providers are well positioned to refer early for prescription opioid misuse and continue support of their patients during treatment.