Project nurture integrates care and services to improve outcomes for opioid-dependent mothers and their children

K. John McConnell, Menolly R. Kaufman, Jenny I. Grunditz, Helen Bellanca, Amanda Risser, Maria I. Rodriguez, Stephanie Renfro

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Children born to women with substance use disorders are at high risk for early foster care placement, which is associated with longterm adverse outcomes for children and places additional pressure on state budgets. Poor outcomes for drug-dependent mothers and their children may be further exacerbated by a lack of coordination between the health care and human services sectors. Project Nurture is an innovative model in Portland, Oregon, that integrates maternity care, substance use treatment, and social service coordination for Medicaid beneficiaries. This study assessed the impact of Project Nurture on a range of patient and child welfare outcomes. Among the “treatment” population of opioid-dependent women enrolled in Medicaid, Project Nurture was associated with reductions in child maltreatment, placement of children in foster care, and increases in both prenatal visits and maternal lengths-of-stay in the hospital, compared to opioid-dependent women enrolled in Medicaid in Oregon counties not served by the project. These results suggest that models based in a clinical setting that engage the human services sector may improve overall outcomes, even though the difficulty in sharing savings across sectors presents challenges to sustainability.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)595-602
Number of pages8
JournalHealth Affairs
Volume39
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health Policy

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