A brighter future for pregnant people with substance use disorders

[4 min read]

In this article: 

• Swedish Ballard is home to a multi-disciplinary program to support pregnant patients with substance use diorders.
• The program offers stabilization, medical substance withdrawal management, obstetric care, childbirth and parenting education and more. 
• This unique program has shown improvements in numerous areas, including decreased substance use and relapse rates, tobacoco cessation,  decreased foster care system entry rates and decreased emergency department utilization. 
• September is National Recovery Month. Learn more about this life-changing program. 

Providence Swedish Ballard is home to the Substance-Using Pregnant People (SUPP) program, a transformative model of care. 

One of four similar programs in the state, Swedish SUPP serves nearly half of the state’s capacity and is unique in that it cares for patients at any gestational age, postpartum and those with high medical needs. Each year, Swedish's program serves approximately 350 mothers and mother-to-be. In 2023, the majority of patients in the Swedish SUPP program came from King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, but the team served patients from 24 other counties.  More than three quarters of the unit's patients are low income with high medical needs and, in many cases, underinsured. 

The SUPP program’s multidisciplinary team delivers inpatient medical withdrawal management and stabilization, psychosocial treatment, obstetric evaluation and care, 24-hour nursing care, and parenting and childbirth education. 

The SUPP program leads to positive health outcomes for both the birthing parent and child, including:  

• Decreased substance use, overdose and relapse rates   
• Improved withdrawal management   
• Tobacco cessation  
• Improved breastfeeding  
• Decreased entry rate into the foster care system   
• Decreased emergency department utilization rates   
• Decreased postpartum hospitalization readmissions