Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure Collaborative

Challenge

Each year in Massachusetts, approximately 14,000 infants are born with prenatal substance exposure. Infants with prenatal substance exposure (IPSE) often experience lower engagements with pediatric care, home visiting, and early intervention services, all of which can help address their unique needs.

With funding from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, EDC is leading the IPSE Collaborative, an initiative that addresses several systemic challenges impeding the ability of families and caregivers to access care for infants with prenatal substance exposure. The IPSE Collaborative is improving coordination across state and community services; increasing family engagement with pediatric care, early intervention services, and home visiting; and strengthening health care providers’ capacity to deliver family-centered care.

Key Activities

EDC’s team is carrying out the following activities:

• Convening a multidisciplinary team of experts to identify barriers to families accessing care and to fostering collaboration across pediatric care, home visiting, and early intervention
• Applying the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Breakthrough Series (BTS) Collaborative continuous improvement model, which brings together experts in maternal and infant health with health practitioners to focus on using data to drive needed change

Impact

• The project will develop a scalable model of intervention and care that can be adopted across Massachusetts.