Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Measured by Claims Data

Lindsay Allen
West Virginia University School of Public Health, West Virginia University, Morgantown WV, 26506-6045

Presentation Category: Health Sciences (Poster Presentation)

Student’s Major: Public Health

Neonatal abstinence syndrome is a major public health concern which transpires when the mother carrying an unborn baby is abusing drugs during the pregnancy. This results in the baby undergoing withdrawal, since they are no longer receiving the drug. The focus is centered on why claims data may be inaccurately capturing NAS rates and explains the reasons for this. The purpose of this research is to measure the extent to which administrative claims data undercounts the NAS burden. This is done by Medicaid claims data from the state of WV, which then gets compared to a novel data source, the WV Birth Score Project. To assess the degree to which claims data are undercoding NAS, the rates of NAS using claims data will be calculated and plotted. Individual claims up to the month level are observed to determine the rates, whether they are steadily declining or increasing, and which counties are most affected and why.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: a WVU 497-level course