Moments that Matter - Indiana Pregnancy Promise Program and OECOSL collaboration makes and impact on Hoosiers

The number of opioid-related overdose deaths has steadily increased in Indiana and nationwide over the past two decades. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration reports a nearly 500% increase in overdose deaths among women during that time. Opioid use disorder has also grown among pregnant women, compounding Indiana’s maternal and infant mortality rates.

FSSA and the Indiana Department of Health are working together to address these challenges and meet the Governor’s goal of being the “best in the Midwest” for maternal and child health by 2024. One program addressing opioid use in pregnancy is a CMS innovation grant Indiana was awarded. Through this initiative, FSSA developed the Pregnancy Promise Program (Promise stands for: Promoting Recovery from Opioid use: Maternal Infant Support and Engagement). This initiative focuses on improving care for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries and their infants impacted by opioid use disorder.

As it turns out, this initiative is showing itself to have life-saving capabilities in more ways than anticipated.

The goals of the program are to connect program participants to everything they need to get, and stay, in recovery: opioid use disorder treatment and recovery services; mental health care; family social need supports, and medical care to support a healthy pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum period. The Pregnancy Promise Program also funds provider education in partnership with Indiana University Project ECHO. These virtual training series are tailored specifically to the unique care needs of this population.

Since implementation of the Pregnancy Promise Program last summer, our team has recognized significant barriers for this population in accessing high-quality child care during the infant’s first year of life. Without a safe place for their infants and children to go, parents struggle to fully engage in treatment and recovery services and find it difficult to attend medical appointments needed in the postpartum period.

In a moment that truly mattered, the Pregnancy Promise team of Elizabeth Wahl, program director and Carey Michels, project specialist, reached out to the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning to develop a solution. OECOSL immediately answered the call. OECOSL Director Nicole Norvell and Carrie Gray, operations manager, worked to develop a new policy Pregnancy Promise Program participants.

Not only does the policy allow Pregnancy Promise Program participants to access federal child care development funds faster, but the policy also goes further and waives the standard work and education requirements and replaces them with treatment and recovery services and postpartum care services; critical services participants might not otherwise receive without child care opportunities.

Together, the Pregnancy Promise Program and OECOSL identified a problem and came up with a solution. This new policy went into effect after the Pregnancy Promise Program and OECOSL provided statewide staff training.

This has been lifesaving for parents and infants in Indiana as evidenced by this recent email exchange between Elizabeth and Carey and Nicole and Carrie.

“The Indiana Pregnancy Promise Program heard an incredible story today. A mother told her Pregnancy Promise case manager that she was able to leave a violent situation with her baby and go to a safe community all because of the CCDF funding and the ability to access childcare for her infant in her new community during the day while she works on safety, stability and recovery. It is literally lifesaving for our population. Thank you for this partnership.”

This is more proof that collaboration across FSSA divisions can achieve multigenerational impact and demonstrates the agency’s vision, mission and values in action. Child care is more than just a safe place for a child to grow and learn. It can also provide the same things for a mother in need.

Dan

Note: If you have any examples or stories of work you and your colleagues do that matters, please send them my way. You can send them to me at SecOffice@FSSA.in.gov with the heading Moments that Matter. These stories will be archived on The Hub here.