Evaluating Maternal Opioid Misuse Initiative
Highlights
- Pregnant women who use opioids need access to comprehensive health services.
- Abt and partners are evaluating efforts to address their medical/social needs.
- Final results are expected in 2024.
The prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) among pregnant women and the incidence of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) due to in-utero exposure to opioids have soared over the past two decades. The prevalence of NOWS among infants enrolled in Medicaid, for example, increased nearly five-fold between 2004 and 2014, rising from 2.8 to 14.4 per 1,000 births. Existing care approaches fail to address many needs and risks. CMS' Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) initiative uses a coordinated care model to improve care.
The team of Insight Policy Research, Abt, and Urban Institute is evaluating sites in 8 states to determine if the MOM models:
- Improve quality and health outcomes while cutting costs.
- Improve access to treatment, service delivery capacity, and infrastructure.
- Create sustainable coverage and payment mechanisms.
The team is using qualitative data collection, including interviews and focus groups, and process and impact analysis. Abt is leading three sites, co-leading the process evaluation, and will analyze the site-reported data. One challenge: variations in awardee interventions.