“It Has Improved My Practice to Be Able to Offer Alternative Treatments”: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Oregon Medicaid Back Pain Providers

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Abstract
Introduction: This study aimed to understand health care providers’ experiences implementing the Oregon Back Pain Policy (OBPP) over time. The Medicaid OBPP expanded coverage of evidence-based nonpharmacological therapy (NPT) for back pain and restricted access to opioid therapy and interventional approaches. Methods: The study included six online, asynchronous focus groups with providers in February 2020 (Time 1) and August 2022 (Time 2). Analysis was conducted with a longitudinal, recurrent cross-sectional approach. Analysis occurred in three stages: (1) An immersion/crystallization approach was used to analyze Time 1 focus group data, (2) reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze Time 2 data, and (3) longitudinal analysis was used to integrate the findings across time points. Results: At Time 1, 48 clinicians and 44 NPT providers participated in the study. Time 2 included 63 clinicians and 59 NPT providers. The longitudinal analysis of the focus group data resulted in four themes: (1) general awareness of the policy, (2) providers support the policy and perceive a benefit to their patients, (3) barriers to NPT accessibility, and (4) barriers to referring patients to NPT. Conclusion: The goal of the OBPP was to improve back pain care for Oregon Medicaid members by increasing access to evidence-based NPT and decreasing reliance on opioid medications. This study revealed that, although clinicians and NPT providers supported the policy, they faced persistent implementation challenges related to referrals, prior authorizations, coverage limitations, low reimbursement rates, and a reduced workforce for NPT providers. In some cases, implementation barriers were removed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but other challenges were more prominent during the pandemic.

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