Only 50% of Pregnant Women In Medicaid with Opioid Misuse Disorder Seek Treatment

Jennifer E. Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN

The number of opioid-related deaths in the U.S. exceeded 33,000 in 2015, an increase of 200% since 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At the same time, rates of NAS and maternal opioid use are climbing, as cited by a report focused on opioid misuse from the Institute for Medicaid Innovation, which hosted the June 22 summit along with the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the March of Dimes. From 2000 to 2009, rates of opioid misuse rose from 1.19 to 5.63 for every 1,000 hospital births each year, while the number of babies born with NAS jumped 300% between 1999 and 2013 in 28 states with publicly available data on opioid addiction.

Although pregnant women who have a substance use disorder are eligible for priority access to MAT, which usually involves either methadone or buprenorphine, only about half of women who need such treatment receive it.  The findings from the Institute’s reports and remarks from the IMI Opioid Summit expert presenters can be found in a article from Health Business Daily.  An archived video of the Summit and reports can be found here.