The Temporal Relationship Between Medicaid Payment Acceptance and the Implementation of Medication-Assisted Drug Treatment

OBJECTIVE: To examine the temporal relationship of Medicaid funding on the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. METHODS: We examined data from 61 publicly funded SUD treatment programs in 2011 and 2013 using crossed-lagged regressions. We tested the impact of Medicaid payment acceptance on 2 measures of EBP implementation—contingency management treatment (CMT) and medication-assisted treatment (MAT). RESULTS: Medicaid payment acceptance at wave 1 was not associated with implementation of CMT at wave 2 (standardized estimate = 0.170, SE = 0.208, P > .05). However, Medicaid payment acceptance at wave 1 was associated with implementation of MAT at wave 2 (standardized estimate = 0.880, SE = 0.047, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Medicaid payment acceptance has a temporal relationship with the implementation of MAT in SUD treatment programs serving one of the largest racial/ethnic minority communities in the United States.