“The Trump administration is stepping up aid for infants and mothers caught in the opioid epidemic, promising to help states cope with some of the worst collateral damage of the drug crisis, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday.
Azar said HHS would partner with states to offer a range of services to mothers with substance-use disorders and the skyrocketing number of newborns dependent on drugs. Those infants, who suffer from a condition known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, often endure painful withdrawal symptoms as health-care workers attempt to wean them off drugs during their first weeks of life.
Azar said HHS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation would launch its first program “specifically devoted to helping address the effects the opioid crisis is having on mothers and infants.” The effort will include opioid abusers who are pregnant or who recently gave birth, he said.
He did not say what services would be offered or in which states. He also did not specify how much funding would be provided for the effort.”
Source: WashingtonPost.com – October 23, 2018
