- Understand Vermont’s experience leveraging epidemiology and performance management to develop opioid data across sectors
- Examine how an epidemiological perspective was critical in engagement with those outside public health and how that relates to experiences across jurisdictions
- Discuss ways to use data to activate leaders and get them to actually use it!
Brief Summary:
Vermont’s governor dedicated his entire 2014 State of the State address to the rising tide of drug addiction. In Vermont, the rate of emergency department visits for heroin overdose rose from 0.1 in 2009 to 1.9 per 10,000 Vermonters in 2014; accidental drug deaths involving heroin rose from 0 in 2010 to 32 in 2014. Seizing on unprecedented attention to public health and safety, the Vermont Department of Health began expanded relationships with the state’s Department of Public Safety and Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The goal was to collaboratively address program and data needs related to opiate use and abuse. The relationships, data governance, and programmatic discussions that have resulted led to the 2015 online publication of a Vermont Opioids Scorecard. The scorecard includes population- and program-level measures with narrative context that decision makers can use to guide cross-sector work to combat opiate abuse. Many of the measures on this scorecard are new and it was health department epidemiologists who worked with substance abuse, state police, and EMS staff to shepherd data through a development process to build meaningful measures. http://healthvermont.gov/adap/dashboard/opioids.aspx
After this background, presenters plan to engage participants with three questions:
- With data ranging from syndromic ED visits to call logs to ounces of heroin seized by police, how do epidemiologists work with partners less familiar with systematic data collection, management, and analysis? [Example: development conversations with state police];
- How can epidemiologists support health department leaders to use the data for such evolving and controversial topics? [Example: Vermont’s Health Commissioner and Deputy have presented this scorecard to audiences including the Vermont Legislature, Governor’s Council on Criminal Justice and Substance Abuse, and National Governors Association].
- The National Heroin Task Force Final Report and Recommendations call for a “comprehensive, collective response” with more cross-sector data. How do epidemiologists and partners continue to develop measures with prescription monitoring systems, electronic health records, local police, EMS Statewide Incident Reporting Network, and pre-hospital care reporting? Regarding confidentiality and statistical reliability, what data can be released at the county level to inform local efforts? [Example: challenges with small numbers].