title: Characterization of U.S. State Laws Requiring Health Care Provider Reporting of Perinatal Substance Use.
abstract: State policies pertaining to health care provider reporting of perinatal substance use have implications for provider screening and referral behavior, patients' care seeking and access to prenatal substance use disorder treatment, and pregnancy and birth outcomes.
  
  
  
  This study sought to characterize specific provisions enacted in state statutes pertaining to mandates that health care providers report perinatal substance use, and to determine the proportion of births occurring in states with such laws.
  
  
  
  We conducted a systematic content analysis of statutes in all U.S. states that mentioned reporting by health care providers of substance use by pregnant women or infants exposed to substances in utero; inter-rater reliability was high. We calculated the number of states, and proportion of U.S. births occurring in states, with processes for mandatory reporting of perinatal substance use to authorities, and substance use disorder treatment provision for individuals who are reported.
  
  
  
  Twenty states (corresponding with 31% of births) had laws requiring health care providers to report perinatal substance use to child protective authorities, and four states (18% of births) had laws requiring reporting only when a health care provider believed the substance use was associated with child maltreatment. About one-half of states (13) with any reporting law had a provision promoting substance use disorder treatment in the perinatal period.
  
  
  
  Findings inform the ongoing debate about how health policies may be used to reduce the population burden of perinatal substance use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: marian.jarlenski@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jarlenski
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Magee-Womens Research Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Bogen
authors.affiliation: Magee-Womens Research Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Judy C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Magee-Womens Research Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bodnar
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Nostrand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*; D011635:Public Health Administration; D013219:State Government; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D014481:United States