PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine will receive federal funding for a program to help new mothers and pregnant women with an opioid use disorder get treatment.
Ten states have been selected by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to create the Maternal Opioid Misuse model for Medicaid patients, The Portland Press Herald reported. Other states to receive funding include New Hampshire, Maryland, West Virginia and Colorado.
“This award will bolster our aggressive response to the opioid initiative under the leadership of Governor Mills,” Maine’s health and human services commissioner, Jeanne Lambrew, said in a written statement. “Ensuring the health and well-being of mothers, children and families affected by opioid use disorder is key to our success. Under this model we can target compassionate, effective support from before birth all the way through infants’ crucial first year of life.”
The number of drug-affected babies decreased from a peak of 1,024 in 2016 to 904 in 2018, the paper reported.
Maine Department of Health and Human Services will work with six health care providers to provide opioid use disorder treatment.
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