Characterization of U.S. State Laws Requiring Health Care Provider Reporting of Perinatal Substance Use.

ABSTRACT:

Background

State policies pertaining to health care provider reporting of perinatal substance use have implications for provider screening and referral behavior, patients' care seeking and access to prenatal substance use disorder treatment, and pregnancy and birth outcomes.

Objectives

This study sought to characterize specific provisions enacted in state statutes pertaining to mandates that health care providers report perinatal substance use, and to determine the proportion of births occurring in states with such laws.

Methods

We conducted a systematic content analysis of statutes in all U.S. states that mentioned reporting by health care providers of substance use by pregnant women or infants exposed to substances in utero; inter-rater reliability was high. We calc

SUBMITTER: Jarlenski M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5435508 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May - Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature