Rx Summit 2023

Plans of Safe Care for Pregnant Individuals and Their Infants

Monday, April 10, 2023

1:00 PM – 2:15 PM

Location: International Ballroom Section A-D OMNI

Presenter(s)

HG

Heather V. Gray, JD

Senior Legislative Attorney
Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association
Charlottesville, Virginia
Stephen W. Patrick, MD, MPH, MS

Director
Vanderbilt University Center for Child Health Policy
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Nashville, TN

Moderator(s)

Carla Worley Saunders, DNP, APRN, NNP-BC

Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, University of Tennessee Medical Center-Knoxville
Co-Founder, Transformational Wellness Initiative
Knoxville, TN

Rates of overdose deaths among pregnant women escalated in recent years reaching record highs. In parallel, infants are entering the US foster care system at higher rates than any other population of children – most due to parental substance use. There is an urgent need to address these urgent and intertwined crises. This session will focus first on a discussion of the recent released White House report entitled Substance Use in Pregnancy: Improving Outcomes for Families and will broadly frame the challenges faced by families and public health systems. Next, the session will focus on the child welfare system, and the evolution of “Plans of Safe Care” including the development of state model legislation.

Learning Objectives:

Outline the role of medications for opioid use disorder in improving outcomes for pregnant women and their infants
List the unique challenges faced by pregnant women with substance use disorder and their infants, including barriers to treatment and public systems
Explain the history and utility of plans of safe care in addressing substance use during pregnancy
Discuss the various state laws addressing substance use during pregnancy and how treating substance use during pregnancy as a crime is counterproductive
Compile information to assist stakeholders in amending or drafting state legislation related to creating plans of safe care