Bipartisan legislation recently introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) would help diagnose and treat newborn babies suffering from opiate addiction.
Stivers and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) co-sponsored the Coordinated Recovery Initiative for Babies Act (CRIB Act) in response to a nationwide increase in opiate abuse leading to more babies being diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). NAS requires lengthy hospital stays for newborns to treat symptoms that include seizures, respiratory impairments, tremors, fever and labored breathing.
“Protecting infants born with NAS is an important and bipartisan issue that everyone should be able to support,” Stivers said. “Unfortunately, due to rampant opiate use nationwide, more and more infants are born with NAS each year. We must address this issue head on and create best practices, so these babies can get, and medical professionals can provide, the best care possible.”
Medicaid covers 75 percent of babies born with an opiate addiction, and average hospital costs increase five-fold over typical births, according to Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Our nation is in the grips of an opiate epidemic, and thousands of infants are suffering the effects of withdrawal from these powerful drugs,” Clark said. “This bipartisan legislation is a commonsense approach to determining how to best care for these newborns while also addressing the enormous cost of that care. I’m hopeful that both parties in Congress can come together in support of this bill to help the youngest victims of the opiate epidemic.”
The CRIB Act would direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the issue to develop best practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of NAS. HHS would also be directed to facilitate the collection of public health data on NAS.