The Intersection of Reproductive Health, Contraceptive Care, and Incarceration
In this presentation, Alane O’Connor, DNP, discusses a research study that examined the significant challenges faced by incarcerated women in Maine and highlighted their complex reproductive health needs. In the context of a strong history of trauma, substance use, and child welfare involvement, participants sought expanded access to contraception. Results support the urgent need for tailored support systems that extend beyond the confines of incarceration and illustrate how expanded access to Medicaid-covered services while in custody might address multifaceted vulnerabilities.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the barriers faced by incarcerated women who desire access to contraception
- Analyze the complex intersection of contraceptive history and preferences among incarcerated women in the context of past trauma and substance use
- Discuss how the data gathered might be used in the development of Maine’s 1115 Waiver implementation to expand access to Medicaid-covered reproductive health care
Audience:
Prescribing Clinicians and their teams
Continuing Medical Education:
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Hanley Center for Health Leadership and Education and CCSME. The Hanley Center for Health Leadership and Education is accredited by the Maine Medical Association Committee on Continuing Medical Education and Accreditation to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Hanley Center for Health Leadership and Education designates this regularly scheduled series for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
*Nurses and Nurse Practitioners will be awarded a certificate of participation with a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™.
This course has been approved by Co-Occurring Collaborative Serving Maine (CCSME), as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for 1 educational credits. NAADAC Provider #324712, CCSME is responsible for all aspects of the programming.
Contact Hours 1 contact hours for social workers, licensed clinical professional counselors, and behavioral health professionals.
1 Category 1 Contact hours for psychologists. CCSME is a pre-approved sponsor and provider of Professional Education Activities for Psychologists.
1 contract hours CHES. CCSME is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission of Health Education Credentialing, Inc.
Speaker
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Alane O'Connor DNPDr. Alane O’Connor DNP is the Director of Perinatal Addiction Medicine at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center and served as the medical director of the Maine Maternal Opioid Misuse (MaineMOM) Initiative, a 5-year, $5 million federal grant to expand access to substance use treatment for pregnant and postpartum women. She has trained hundreds of resident physicians and fellows and is core faculty in Maine’s only addiction medicine fellowship. Dr. O’Connor has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed manuscripts on maternal and infant outcomes following treatment with medication for opioid use disorder during pregnancy as well as related postpartum healthcare utilization and health policy. , She developed a partnership with Portland Fire Department’s Mobile Medical Outreach (MMO) team after recognizing that some of her most at-risk pregnant women were not accessing health care in traditional settings. Project Lifeline is a nationally innovative medical and community paramedicine program that delivers street medicine services to unhoused pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder who live in tents, shelters, vehicles, and on the street.
Beyond caring for pregnant women, Dr. O’Connor works in the correctional system as the Director of Addiction Medicine at Somerset County Jail and Franklin County Detention Center and is the clinical advisor to the Maine Sheriffs’ Association. In this capacity, she developed and implemented a nationally innovative program using a monthly injectable medication (rather than a daily pill) to treat incarcerate individuals with opioid use disorder. The outcomes, published in Health & Justice, showed that the injectable medication expanded access to treatment during incarceration, improved treatment continuation after release and reduced the risk of post-release drug overdose death. The project gained nationwide attention and was featured on the front page of the New York Times and a related podcast.
Dr. O’Connor lectures regionally and nationally on substance use disorder to a variety of audiences including medical providers, the child welfare system, the correctional system and judiciary, as well as law enforcement. She is a member of the Maine Maternal Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Panel and co-chairs Maine’s Opioid Response Clinical Advisory Committee which advises the state’s opioid response director on clinical and public policy issues.Director of Addiction Medicine Somerset County Jail
– Director of Addiction Medicine Franclin County Detention Center
– Director, MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Perinatal Addiction Medicine
– Director, MaineHealth Maine Medical Center Correctional Addiction Medicine
– Assistant Clinical Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine
– MaineHealth Comprehensive Addiction Medicine
