CJFHC and GoMo Health Event Recap: New Behavioral Technology for Women with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)

Every day, more than 115 people in the United States die as a result of overdosing on opioid medication. The misuse and addiction to opioid medication, which includes prescription pain relievers, heroin, and fentanyl, has become a major national crisis. In 2017, 700 babies in New Jersey were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome in which they were withdrawing to the exposure of narcotics.

Withdrawal from opioid use during pregnancy is associated with poor neonatal outcomes, including preterm birth or fetal demise. Because of the major impact that Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) has on maternal child health, GoMo Health has teamed up with Central Jersey Family Health Consortium (CJFHC) to create two programs specifically targeted for this area of care.

The launch of these two remote care management programs will support providers treating prenatal and postpartum mothers with opioid use disorder, as well as the women themselves. The programs are:

1. Maternal Child Health Personal Concierge: a mobile-based virtual care coordinator designed to guide pregnant and postpartum women through their pregnancy, addiction management and baby’s first 15 months.
2. Provider Concierge for healthcare professionals: for use as an in-the-moment guide for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and learning management system; the Provider Concierge helps guide obstetricians, pediatricians, maternal/fetal medicine, neonatologists, nurses, social workers and midwives in the treatment of women with OUD with access to New Jersey’s resources and programs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement. These new programs will specifically work to alleviate that burden on patients and providers in New Jersey.

To celebrate the launch of these programs, GoMo Health, CJFHC, and the New Jersey Department of Health held a kickoff event on January 7, 2019 at the RWJBarnabas Health Institute for Prevention & Recovery. The agenda included remarks from:

• New Jersey First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy
• Shereef Elnahal, MD, Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Health
• Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., of New Jersey’s 6th district

See their comments from the event and learn a little more about the program in the video below:

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy also wrote a letter about the newly launched program, which was read aloud at the event. Click here to read the letter in full.