FOX23 Investigates: Infants born addicted to opioids

Updated: October 27, 2017 - 6:31 PM

TULSA, Okla. — Quick Facts:

Statistics from the Community Service Council show the number of babies in Oklahoma with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) increased from 2 per 1,000 births in 2008 to 12.7 per 1,000 births in 2016
64 percent of all births in Oklahoma are covered by Soonercare
What is Soonercare?
In the fiscal year of 2016 (FY2016), of the 30,510 pregnant women on Soonercare, 3,946 members filled opioid prescriptions up to three days before delivery
FOX23 toured a special unit that recently opened at Children's Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethany, OK, to care for babies with NAS
Babies with NAS spend 2-4 weeks in the hospital, on average
Their hospital care costs $93,000 on average
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter filed suit against opioid manufacturers, claiming deceptive marketing practices led to our state's opioid crisis
President Trump is also addressing the national opioid crisis
WATCH the full report above.

Here is Attorney General Mike Hunter's full interview about opioids:

FOX23's Michelle Linn also talked to local hospitals about their plans for dealing with the opioid crisis and infants:

What St. John Medical Center is taking to address opioid crisis:

In light of what St.John is doing to address the opioid crisis, we have started the SBIRT screening. SBIRT is a comprehensive, integrated, public health approach to identifying substance misuse, and delivering early intervention services for persons at risk of developing substance use disorders.
Every patient admitted to the hospital is asked a few questions on drug & alcohol use. The questions are scored and then from the scores, we are able to identify early interventions for most patients.
The providers monitor all controlled substances prescribed through the prescription drug monitoring program
The providers follow a set of guidelines that address pain by prescribing nonopioid medications and using nonpharmacologic treatments when appropriate.
All medication prescribing is electronic

What Hillcrest Hospital is doing to address opioid crisis:

Hillcrest performs urine drug screens in all Utica Park Clinics as part of our monitoring program.
Hillcrest has developed a set of clinical guidelines to assist providers with pain management.
We track all controlled substance prescribing with monthly printed reports for all providers.
All prescribing is done electronically.
We monitor all controlled substances prescribed through the prescription drug monitoring program website run by the state.

What St. Francis is doing to address opioid crisis:

“As part of Saint Francis Health System, Warren Clinic providers are keenly aware of the growing concern regarding opiate prescribing practices in our region. Our clinical priority is to ensure the safety of all of our patients and at the same time address the very real suffering that some patients experience with pain. We seek to augment pain solutions including modalities such as physical therapy, exercise and relaxation techniques whenever possible, and include non-narcotic medications as part of a balanced approach to pain management.

Regarding pain medication prescribing, we adhere to the state regulations that require checking the ONBDD website to ensure, to the best of our ability, that patients are not getting medications from other providers.

Additionally, we recently embarked on putting together an internal task force to monitor prescribing patterns and alternatives for Warren Clinic.”

Organizations mentioned in the story: