The Ohio Department of Medicaid is refining its original perinatal episode design with the goal of encouraging better support for high-risk mothers, particularly those with Opioid Use Disorder or those at risk for preterm birth, and has asked Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Past President Sarah Sams, MD, to participate in informing the process.
Over the past five years, the Ohio Department of Medicaid has implemented a number of Episodes of Care, including a perinatal episode. Medicaid now wishes to take advantage of the opportunity to link the mother with her infant for a more complete understanding of the maternal-infant journey and, in turn, hopes to more closely connect how Medicaid pays for obstetrical with the improved, sought after outcomes.