These guidelines were developed by a multisociety expert panel representing pain medicine, addiction, and pharmacy health sciences. Experts conducted an extensive literature search and quality review using a modified Delphi process. Recommendations were made regarding management of patients receiving buprenorphine for medication management of opioid use disorder (OUD) in the perioperative setting and initiation of buprenorphine in patients with suspected OUD in the perioperative setting.

To decrease the risk of OUD recurrence in patients receiving hospital treatments, buprenorphine should not be routinely discontinued in the perioperative setting. Buprenorphine can be initiated in untreated patients with OUD and acute pain in the perioperative setting to decrease the risk of opioid recurrence and overdose death.

Read the recommendations here.