Our Recent Work

Pregnant people who misuse substances are at high risk for poor outcomes, including miscarriage, preterm labor, and delivery-related complications. Infants born to people who have misused substances during pregnancy also face negative outcomes and are more likely to have a low birth weight, be born early, and to need neonatal intensive care than unexposed infants. To help improve these outcomes, the Practice Innovation Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (PIP@CUSOM) is engaged in two different state-funded programs:

1. Integrated Care for Women and Babies (ICWB) supports clinics in integrating obstetric and gynecological (OB/GYN) services with behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment. PIP@CUSOM serves as the lead.
2. IMprove Perinatal Access Coordination and Treatment for Behavioral Health (IMPACT BH) takes a broader focus by helping to coordinate a continuum of care across community organizations and health systems for pregnant and postpartum people and their families. The Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative (CPCQC) serves as the lead and collaborates with PIP@CUSOM.

In both projects, PIP@CUSOM engages outpatient clinic partners to enhance and strengthen integrated perinatal, substance use, and behavioral health care for pregnant and postpartum people. The Farley Health Policy, in collaboration with PIP@CUSOM, has developed several briefs that highlight the successes, challenges, and need for continued investment and these and related interventions that support pregnant and parenting people and their families.

ICWB:

• The first brief summarizes the clinics’ experiences, identifies best practices, and outlines several policy changes that can help advance integrated treatment for substance use, perinatal medical and behavioral health care;
• The second focuses on the integral role of peer support in the program’s success;
• The third presents data on types of substances used (more people use non-opioids than opioids) and birth outcomes. The authors also make suggestions about continued funding and focus that can help more people receive medication assisted treatment and streamline data practices.
•   The IMPACT BH brief provides an overview of community partner activities, identifies some barriers related to hiring and data collection and articulates the need for continued resources.