Serving patients in the Columbus, Ohio, community, Dr. Khaled Amr treats patients living with pain and seeking to overcome addiction to narcotics. A longtime area of professional interest for Dr. Khaled Amr is opioid addiction, and he is active with the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
A recent Reuters Health article brought attention to a situation in which only a relatively few physicians have the qualifications to prescribe buprenorphine, an opioid-addiction medication. For the past two decades, doctors have been able to apply to the federal government for waivers that allow them to prescribe a methadone alternative otherwise limited to federally approved clinics. In recent years, physician assistants and nurse practitioners have also been allowed to apply for such waivers.
Despite this, only one in 10 primary-care providers nationwide holds buprenorphine prescription qualifications. This is seen as not nearly enough, considering that the need for treatment has increased exponentially, as annual opioid deaths increased from 16,500 to 46,000 from 2007 to 2017. Compounding the problem, gains in buprenorphine-prescribing physicians have been more concentrated in areas with higher levels of college graduates than in the rural counties where treatment demand is acute.
Dr. Khaled Amr 