Kaucher KA, Caruso EH, Sungar DOG, et al. - In view of the struggle encountered in emergency departments in managing the increasing number of patients seen for opioid use disorders and opioid overdose, researchers sought to delineate a pragmatic approach to induce patients with long-acting opioids such as buprenorphine and referring patients to outpatient medication-assisted treatment facilities. In this single-center, retrospective analysis, they identified 219 patients (mean age: 35 years old; 56 % male) who were induced with buprenorphine in the emergency department. Moderate withdrawal was evident among patients as per initial COWS scores of 13.1; the patients received mean total doses of 7.7 mg. From May 2017 and October 2018, decrease in median ED length of stay by 40 % was observed. Outcomes support the efficacy of this approach at maintaining patients in medication-assisted therapy.