How we order and rank listings
Every list on this site follows the rules below. They are published so you can judge whether our ordering deserves your trust, and so you can ignore it if your situation calls for something else.
The short version
We order clinics by how many people can actually get in the door, not by how good the care is. We have no way to measure care quality, so we do not claim to. Nobody pays for placement.
Where the data comes from
All 19,017 clinic listings come from the SAMHSA treatment locator, the federal registry of substance use treatment facilities, filtered to providers offering buprenorphine. We do not add clinics by hand, and clinics cannot add themselves. The online provider list is maintained separately and was last checked 2026-07-27.
How clinic listings are ordered
Within a city, state, or coverage list, clinics are ordered by an accessibility score. Each factor below adds to it, and ties break alphabetically.
- +3Accepts Medicaidremoves the largest cost barrier for the most people
- +2Offers telehealthremoves travel, which is the binding constraint in rural areas
- +2Sliding scale or payment assistancethe fallback when there is no coverage at all
- +1Nationally accredited or state licensedan outside body has reviewed the program
- +1Counseling on siteavoids coordinating care across two places
- +1Accepts three or more coverage typesfewer people are turned away at intake
That is the whole formula. It favors clinics that remove barriers, which is why a Medicaid-accepting clinic with video visits appears above a cash-only clinic across town. It says nothing about which clinician you will like, how long the wait is, or how well anyone does there.
What we do not measure
The federal registry carries no ratings, no patient reviews, no treatment outcomes, and no inspection results. So this site does not rank clinics by quality, does not publish star ratings, and avoids the word "best" for individual clinics. Anywhere you see a ranked list here, the criteria are stated on the page. If a directory ranks addiction treatment providers as best or worst without telling you how, be skeptical of it, including this one.
Placement is not for sale
No clinic, provider, or telehealth service can pay to rank higher, to be included, or to be marked in any way. If that ever changes, paid placement will be labeled on the listing itself, and this page will say so before it happens. Some outbound links to online providers may earn a commission, which never affects ordering or whether a provider is listed.
How online providers are compared
The online provider comparison is a small hand-checked list rather than a registry pull. Providers are included if they prescribe buprenorphine by video, operate in multiple states, and publish their pricing or coverage. They are compared on coverage accepted, whether cash pricing is published, and how quickly a first appointment is available. That page names the best fit for specific situations rather than a single overall winner, because the right answer depends on your coverage.
Corrections
Registry data lags reality. Clinics close, stop taking new patients, and change what coverage they accept without the federal record updating. Always call before you travel. If a listing is wrong, tell us and we will fix it, and correcting a listing is free for everyone.
Medical review
Clinical and coverage explanations on this site are drafted, then reviewed by a licensed clinician before they carry a reviewer byline. Pages without a byline have not yet completed that review. We do not put a reviewer's name on anything they have not read.