Perinatal Substance Abuse Pilot Program

The Perinatal Substance Abuse Pilot Program (program) was created by the Legislature in 1998.  Its goal is to develop an integrated services model for delivering medical, behavioral health, and social services to pregnant or postpartum women who are substance abusers or are at risk for substance abuse.  The law creating the program required a report on the outcomes of the program, including whether clients have achieved a drug-free status, and whether there has been an improvement in the health and well-being of the clients and their infants.  From November 1999 through May 2001, a total of 67 women were enrolled in the program, located in Tucson.  The program terminates in June 2002.

Although the program has taken several steps to achieve integration, such as establishing a collaboration of service providers, it still needs to improve.  Specifically, the program has had insufficient methods of sharing client information because its intended communication system was not used, and it lacks a formal leadership mechanism to develop program direction.  Further, because the program did not collect the necessary data, there is no way to tell whether the program improved the health of the clients or their infants.