Hospital-Based Programs for Perinatal Substance Use Care

• Colorado Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health: Substance Use Disorder Learning Collaborative (CO AIM: SUD) is a cohort-based learning collaborative where hospital teams learn alongside peer labor and delivery units to implement quality improvement approaches focused on improving screening and referral rates for substance use disorder (SUD) and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs).
• Colorado MOMs (Maternal Overdose Matters) Initiative is a distribution program that provides birthing hospitals with free naloxone to dispense to at-risk perinatal patients and families.
• Maternal Overdose Matters Plus (MOMs+) provides tailored, one-on-one technical assistance to labor and delivery units to develop the ability to immediately begin life-saving, medication-assisted treatment for patients with substance use disorder during admission, while creating connections for patients to continue care outside of the hospital.

All of these complementary programs work to improve the care for perinatal patients with substance use receiving care in birthing hospitals. Participating in multiple programs is a great way to accelerate your progress towards preventing maternal overdose, a leading cause of maternal mortality in Colorado and the nation. If your hospital is part of CO: AIM SUD, you have already taken a huge step forward in the care of your perinatal patients affected by substance use. Participating in MOMs+ will complement and supercharge your engagement in CO: AIM SUD by providing deeper technical assistance around treatment support, medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) initiation in the labor and delivery (L&D) unit, and connections to outpatient treatment and recovery. If you already participate in the MOMs Initiative to dispense naloxone, participating in MOMs+ or CO AIM: SUD will ensure you are identifying and caring for as many at-risk patients as possible.

The primary difference between MOMs+ and CO AIM: SUD is that MOMs+ takes a deeply customized approach to preparing your individual L&D unit to begin patients on medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and create bridges to outpatient treatment after a patient has screened positive for SUD. In comparison, CO AIM: SUD hospitals participate in a collaborative setting alongside other L&D units to lay the groundwork for universal, patient-centered verbal screening for perinatal substance use disorder in order to identify those patients most in need of SUD care.

Meanwhile, the MOMs Initiative is a distribution program that helps birthing hospitals provide overdose education and free naloxone directly to at-risk perinatal patients and families prior to discharge. The MOMs Initiative supports both CO AIM: SUD and MOMs+ by helping hospitals provide comprehensive treatment options for those patients that were identified as using substances via screening, and is an easy “add on” to either CO AIM: SUD or MOMS+, or an entry point to SUD care on its own. Each program achieves the goals of supporting perinatal patients with SUD through different and complementary approaches. 

If you are already participating in CO: AIM SUD, there are no additional data collection requirements to participate in MOMs+. If you are new to either program, our team of experts will help you set up the data collection procedures to support your team in implementing data driven approaches to care for perinatal patients affected by substance use. Once your team is set up, you can seamlessly participate in both programs and receive on-going data technical assistance. Data reporting requirements for the MOMs Initiative includes a simple quarterly submission of the number of take-home naloxone kits dispensed per month.

Program Partners

• In partnership with Stader Opioid Consultants, Colorado MOMs Initiative, The Naloxone Project