The Kentucky Association of Health Plans is giving $750,000 dollars to neonatal care company NASCEND to help improve access to treatment for opioid-exposed infants in rural areas.
That includes helping hospitals set up prenatal consultations, training staff and adding new treatment programs.
“The thing that we're really striving for is that no matter where an infant – especially those that are opioid-exposed – is born, they can guarantee that they can get the same quality and equality in care with the same outcomes as any other place,” neonatologist and NASCEND founder Dawn Forbes said. “And it's not limited by the resources or the location.”
It’s also meant to help hospitals work within the budget and manpower they already have.
“We're just bringing in training and education without a requirement to hire more people, but being able to get more services and more opportunities and options for the patient,” Forbes said.
The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality says there were 821 newborn hospitalizations across Kentucky in 2021 as a result of neonatal abstinence syndrome.
