COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The federal government is allowing Ohio more flexibility in what services it can provide to Medicaid patients addicted to opioids.

The expanded options are coming through a substance use disorder demonstration waiver that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine says the waiver will help the state confront the deadly epidemic tied to prescription painkillers, heroin and illegal fentanyl.

It will allow Ohio to provide critical care to mothers and babies exposed to opioids, expand recovery support and enhance residential treatment services.

The state’s waiver application said the demonstration would permit Ohio’s Department of Medicaid to provide medically-necessary health care, mental health and substance use services in the most appropriate and cost-effective setting, which often is a community-based facility rather than a hospital.

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