Promoting Care for Pregnant/Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants

SAMHSA is issuing two reports on the best approaches for optimizing outcomes for pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorders and their infants. Both reports are aimed at helping these women gain greater access to this effective treatment and other important services.

Advancing the Care of Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants: A Foundation for Clinical Guidance

This report summarizes the evidence review and rating processes used to establish appropriate interventions for the treatment of pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder and their infants.

The report establishes the foundation for the development of a clinical guide enabling more health care providers to offer specialized treatment to women with opioid use disorder and their opioid-exposed infants.

SAMHSA is seeking public comment on the clinical translation of this report in order to assure that it is of maximum utility. The report will be published in the Federal Registeron August 3, 2016. Comments will be accepted until September 3, 2016.

A Collaborative Approach to the Treatment of Pregnant Women with Opioid Use Disorder: Practice and Policy Considerations for Child Welfare and Collaborating Service Providers

The second report being issued is a guide aimed at promoting collaborative efforts among agencies and providers serving pregnant and postpartum women with opioid dependence and their infants. It presents a coordinated, multisystemic approach grounded in early identification and intervention to assist child welfare, medical, substance use treatment, and other systems to develop approaches to support families. The publication provides:

An overview of the extent of opioid use by pregnant women and the effects on the infant
Evidence-based recommendations for treatment approaches
An in-depth case study
A guide for collaborative planning
Tools to conduct a needs and gap analysis and to develop a collaborative action plan.

Both of these efforts were recently mentioned by HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell as part of the Department’s overall initiative to address the many public health problems posed by the opioid disorder crisis. HHS has consistently emphasized the importance of increasing access to medication-assisted treatment for all populations in need.