CMS announces Medicaid model for pregnant women with opioid disorders

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will launch a Medicaid payment model next fall that aims to improve care and reduce expenditures for pregnant and postpartum women with opioid use disorders. The CMS Innovation Center expects to award up to $64.6 million for the Maternal Opioid Misuse model over five years through a funding opportunity announcement early next year, which will solicit cooperative agreements with up to 12 states to implement the model with health system and payer partners in their communities. Services under the model will include care management and coordination, health promotion, individual and family support, and referral to community and social services. “Too many barriers impede the delivery of well-coordinated, high-quality care to pregnant and postpartum women struggling with opioid misuse, including lack of access to treatment and a shortage of providers in rural areas, where the opioid crisis is especially destructive,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. “The MOM model will support state Medicaid agencies, front-line providers and health care systems to help ensure that mothers and infants afflicted by the opioid epidemic get the care they need.”