Timely receipt of buprenorphine, naltrexone, or methadone was associated with greater retention in care among youths with opioid use disorder (OUD) compared with behavioral treatment only, according to a recent study. Furthermore, strategies to address the underuse of evidence-based medications for youths with OUD are urgently needed. This retrospective cohort study used enrollment data and complete health insurance claims of 2.4 million youths aged 13 to 22 years from 11 states enrolled in Medicaid from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015. Researchers found:

• Among 4,837 youths diagnosed with OUD, 2,752 (56.9%) were female and 3,677(76.0%) were non-Hispanic white.
• Median age was 20 years.
• Overall, 3,654 youths (75.5%) received any treatment within 3 months of diagnosisof OUD.
• Most youths received only behavioral health services (2515 [52.0%]), with fewerreceiving OUD medications (1139 [23.5%]).
• Only 34 of 728 adolescents aged <18 years (4.7%) and 1,105 of 4,109 young adults aged ≥18 years (26.9%) received timely OUD medications.