HealthFriday, November 13
Spokane County's rate of newborns in withdrawal has more than doubled in two years, Maddie's Place says
The Daily Spokane team
Maddie's Place, a Spokane nonprofit that cares for infants exposed to substances before birth, reports that the rate of newborns experiencing withdrawal in Spokane County has more than doubled in just two years, citing Washington Health Care Authority data. CEO Shaun Cross wrote in an op-ed that the county's 2024 rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome was nearly 7.5 times the 2021 national benchmark.
Nearly 7.5 timesSpokane County's 2024 NAS rate against the 2021 national benchmark
Cross notes those figures capture only Medicaid-covered births in the county, which represent 53% of all live births.
Source: The Spokesman-Review
Cross is again urging state lawmakers to create sustainable funding through a Medicaid reimbursement model.
- One of only five pediatric transitional care facilities in the country
- Newer needs: feeding tubes, syphilis exposure, Fetal Fentanyl Syndrome traits
- Services aren't covered by Washington's insurance for low-income residents
Maddie's Place keeps admitting more infants each year
- 215
- infants cared for since opening in 2022
- 225
- parents supported in recovery
- 34%
- rise in admissions from 2024 to 2025
- $21 million
- raised, including $10 million in state funding
Sources: The Inlander, The Spokesman-Review
Sources: The Inlander, The Spokesman-Review