Universal maternal drug testing at the time of admission for delivery improves the identification of infants at risk for developing withdrawal syndromes due to illicit drug exposure in utero. The greater-Cincinnati region believes this testing protocol could serve as a model for other communities with a high-prevalence of prescription opiate abuse and with conducive laws. The switch to universal drug testing began in 2013, following pilot programs, in an attempt to combat a growing epidemic of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), resulting from babies born addicted to drugs. In 2013 alone, according to the Ohio Department of Health, there were nearly five admissions per day for drug-dependent babies. Ohio experienced a 760 percent increase in the number of babies diagnosed with NAS from 2004 to 2013. The department says the average cost to treat a NAS baby is nearly $58,000 per hospitalization (an average length of stay of 15 days), totaling $97 million in 2013. Drug testing enables the hospital to identify and admit drug-exposed babies, who otherwise would likely be sent home before NAS symptoms appear. "Universal testing is designed to help the family, the mother and the infant," says Scott Wexelblatt, M.D., medical director of regional newborn services at […]