Collaborative Partnerships Are Key to Address the Overdose Crisis: Public Health and Public Safety
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In 2021, an estimated more than 108 000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, the highest number of overdose deaths predicted for a calendar year, according to recent provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) The drug overdose crisis, previously driven by heroin and prescription opioids, since 2013 has been driven by synthetic opioids (primarily, illicit manufactured fentanyl). From 2020 to 2021, drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased by nearly 25%, and in 2021, nearly 70% of all drug overdose deaths involved these highly potent and lethal opioids. Just one drug overdose is too many, and for far too long, communities across our country have been impacted by the overdose crisis. Importantly, we have the tools to prevent drug overdose deaths. CDC is working to prevent overdoses and substance use-related harms through 5 key strategic priorities: partnering with public safety and community organizations; monitoring, analyzing, and communicating trends; building state, tribal, local, and territorial capacity; supporting providers, health systems, payers, and employers; and raising public awareness and reducing stigma. Partnerships with public safety organizations are critical for the effective implementation of each of our key strategic priorities to address the overdose crisis. For example, a key strategy of CDC's Overdose Data to Action program is to partner with public safety and first responders. A growing number of funded recipients engage in overdose fatality review teams, which are multidisciplinary teams of public health and public safety partners that review overdose cases to identify system gaps and innovative community-specific overdose prevention strategies. Innovative collaborations with public safety have led to sustained and expanded national prevention efforts. CDC provides funding and technical assistance for the following: The Overdose Response Strategy (ORS), in partnership with Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs). The ORS focuses on reducing fatal and nonfatal overdoses by connecting public health and public safety agencies, sharing information, and supporting evidence-based interventions. Through this innovative collaboration, the ORS expanded from 5 HITDAs in 15 states to a national program that includes all 33 HIDTAs, with Drug Intelligence Officers partnering with Public Health Analysts in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The Opioid Rapid Response Program (ORRP) in partnership with the HHS Office of Inspector General and Drug Enforcement Administration. Public health plays a critical role in collaborating on the ORRP to facilitate timely communication and coordination across state and federal health agencies and to ensure that available public health, health care, and treatment services supported by the federal government are known to and leveraged by state health officials working to mitigate risks among patients. For example, through the ORRP, upon a disruption in health care, we partnered with state health officials from Ohio to support more than 40 patients in referring them to alternative pain management services or treatment facilities, communicating about overdose risks, and distributing naloxone kits. Bureau of Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP), in partnership with the Office of Justice Programs. This program promotes public safety and supports access to treatment and recovery services in the criminal justice system while strengthening the collection and sharing of data to understand, address, and prevent illicit substance use and misuse. Sharing information across public health and public safety sectors facilitates advancing early detection of emerging substances and trends, informing prevention and response strategies, and increasing access to substance use disorder treatment and harm-reduction services. The ORS Cornerstone Projects are a key example of this, as they outline current practices and guide future efforts on topics such as public safety-led linkage to care and jail-based overdose prevention. Collaborations at the national, state, and local levels allow for effective and equitable implementation of programs and help advance promising strategies that address the overdose crisis, while helping to eliminate the long-standing impact of systemic inequities on overdose prevention. By coordinating, communicating, and collaborating with public safety and other sectors, we can apply a cross-systems approach to inform and design overdose prevention interventions, programs, and policies. These efforts strengthen our understanding of emerging drug threats, as well as our understanding of how best to intervene with those most at risk of overdose. The overdose crisis is complex and requires multisector solutions. It is clear that public health and public safety collaborations help strengthen and improve efforts to reduce overdoses. These partnerships allow for effective implementation of programs and help advance promising strategies that can help address the overdose epidemic.
Author: Debra Houry
Institution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4301186782