WVU Public Health professor aims to better understand the needs of pregnant women with substance use disorder through telehealth data
Dr. Brian Hendricks, a research assistant professor with the West Virginia University School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, is trying to better understand the needs of a historically underserved population in West Virginia — pregnant women with substance use disorder. Hendricks plans to explore telehealth utilization rates, barriers to use and the potential advantages for pregnant women with substance use disorder.
“We want to get a better understanding of this population’s needs,” Hendricks said. “Access to care is a big issue all rural residents face. Rural areas experience longer than average drive times to receive clinical care. Additionally, some West Virginia counties have as high as 14% of their households with no motor vehicles for transportation. Add the need for specialty care during pregnancy or for substance use disorders into the mix and finding a primary care doctor in your community is even more difficult.”
The research is being made possible through the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute Research Scholars program. This competitive training program provides early career investigators with two years of mentoring and support to conduct research to benefit West Virginia.
The project is focused primarily on pregnant Medicaid beneficiaries — a woman is eligible for pregnancy-related Medicaid based upon their household size, income, residency, and immigration status. Eligibility factors do differ by state. Preliminary data from a small population (n=500) of pregnant and postpartum women receiving treatment for substance use disorder indicated that roughly 94% were enrolled in Medicaid.
Hendricks’ project will ask, “How is telehealth for prenatal care and substance use disorder treatment among pregnant women being used? Which communities have historically had access to telehealth and which ones have gotten better access since the pandemic?”
Read the full story from West Virginia University here.