Despite state laws requiring syphilis screening during pregnancy, screening rates vary among Medicaid enrollees in six southern states and fall short of 100 percent.
The Georgia Health Policy Center was one of six state university research partners participating in the AcademyHealth State–University Partnership Learning Network that contributed to this study, recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Analysis included more than half a million women enrolled in Medicaid in (Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee), with delivery in fiscal years 2017–2018 and 2018–2019. Each state calculated the percentage of enrollees receiving a syphilis screening test during the first trimester, third trimester, and at any point during pregnancy.
Overall, prenatal syphilis screening during any point in pregnancy ranged from 56% to 91% across states, but was higher — ranging from 78% to 90% — among women enrolled in Medicaid during the first trimester.
“Syphilis passed from the mother to the unborn baby is associated with significant morbidity and even newborn death,” explains coauthor Angie Snyder, Ph.D., director of health policy and financing at the Georgia Health Policy Center. “Medicaid is the largest single payer of pregnancy-related services in the United States and this research shows that even when prenatal syphilis screening is required at the first prenatal visit, there are missed opportunities in terms of getting this important public health strategy into real-world practice.”
Read the full study here.