A Field Placement Approach to Enhance State and Local Capacity for Opioid-Related Issues Affecting Pregnant and Postpartum People and Infants Prenatally Exposed to Opioids and Other Substances

Opioid use disorder (OUD) poses a significant public health concern impacting maternal and infant outcomes. In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) to develop the Opioid use disorder, Maternal outcomes, and Neonatal abstinence syndrome Initiative Learning Community (OMNI LC) to identify and disseminate best practices and strategies for implementing systems-level changes in state health departments to address OUD affecting pregnant and postpartum persons and infants prenatally exposed to opioids. In 2019, the OMNI LC incorporated a field placement approach that assigned temporary field placement staff in five select OMNI LC states to provide important linkages, facilitate information sharing, and strengthen capacity among state and local health departments and other partners supporting maternal and child health communities affected by the opioid crisis. Using an implementation science framework, the field placement approach was assessed using five implementation outcome measures: appropriateness, acceptability, implementation cost, sustainability, and feasibility. Written responses from the participating OMNI LC states on these implementation outcome measures were analyzed to (1) highlight key strategies used by field placement staff, (2) assess the implementation of the OMNI LC field placement approach within the context of implementation science, and (3) identify implementation barriers. This report describes the implementation of a temporary field placement approach and suggests that this approach could be replicated to enhance state and local capacity to respond to the opioid crisis or other high-consequence events.