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BACKGROUND: Despite >20 years of studies investigating the characteristics of patients seeking or receiving opioid analgesics, research characterizing factors associated with physicians’ opioid prescribing practices has been inconclusive, and the role of practitioner specialty in opioid prescribing practices remains largely unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationships between physicians’ and other providers’ primary specialties and their opioid prescribing practices among patients with chronic noncancer pain (CNCP).

METHODS: Prescriptions for opioids filled by 81,459 Medicaid patients with CNCP in North Carolina (USA), 18 to 64 years of age, enrolled at any point during a one‐year study period were examined. χ² statistics were used to examine bivariate differences in prescribing practices according to specialty. For multivariable analyses, maximum‐likelihood logistic regression models were used to …