Effective Action Planning and Implementation

Return to Opioid_Top-Level_Strategy_Map or Zoom Map - Improve Alignment & Teamwork Among Existing Programs & Opioid-Related Coalitions or Zoom Map - Improve Treatment & Enable Recovery for People with SUD's

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Background

This Objective addresses a few different things:

1. Fragmentation with regard to the many different groups working to address the opioid crisis. In any mid-to-large metro area or state, there are likely many different opioid-related groups that are not well aligned or coordinated. A community will be more effective if the many different groups can work together. In some cases, they may have most of the right people and organizations together at the table, but they still may not be working as a team.
2. This would include multi-sector teamwork, such as social services, law enforcement, public health, treatment programs, etc. (like you share below.)
3. This would also include coordinated continuum of care including integrating addiction treatment into primary care, and community care coordination using tools like XCare Community or The Good Grid.
4. Availability of supportive social services (especially re-integration after incarceration)
5. Other community connections to support the success of people dealing with substance misuse (like job programs, faith communities, etc.)

Key Opportunities to Improve Care Coordination

Develop and/or increase the use of an on-line shared directory of available resources

 

Expand the development and use of centrally managed personal success pathways

 

Assign and connect care teams to work together

 

Improve and appropriately share comprehensive assessments

 

Current Status

Building Effective Public Safety-Public Health Partnerships

Principles for Building Better Relationships
The Police Executive Research forum reports 5 principles for building better partnerships between law enforcement agencies, public health organizations, treatment providers, and other stakeholders from their April 2016 meeting. The five principles are:

1. Find common ground and work toward shared goals.
2. Respect and Learn from one another's positions and perspectives
3. Involve people from all levels within an organization
4. Be open to expanding your perspective and accepting new roles.
5. Maintain a community focus.

Data Collection and Sharing
Current Barriers

• access to timely mortality data
• access to medical and pharmacy records
• access to law enforcement data (access to the results of forensic tests conducted on drugs that are seized by police or sheriffs’ departments, data on the locations of arrests and drug enforcement activities would help them develop more targeted interventions)

Examples of Data Sharing

• RxStat (New York, NY)
  • Partners: the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with their public safety partners.
  • Approach: RxStat consists of two general phases: collecting timely and accurate data and using the data to develop targeted interventions aimed at reducing overdose deaths.
  • Outcomes: Staten Island has seen a 29 percent decrease in prescription opioid deaths since officials first began implementing RxStat.

 

• Project Vision (Rutland, VT)
  • Partners: Rutland Police Department (led by Chief Brian Kilcullen), elected officials, representatives from the medical field, social service providers, local businesses, criminal justice agencies, schools, nonprofit organizations, mental health providers, faith-based groups, federal and state law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders.
  • How it works: RuStat meetings every other week. During the meetings, representatives from the police department present specific addresses within the community that have been the subject of three or more police visits during the previous two-week period. Project VISION members can then determine whether they are familiar with the addresses through their own work—for example, a social worker who is at the meeting may have a client at the address. From there, Project VISION partners can devise a plan to provide the person identified with the appropriate services. According to Scott Tucker, Executive Director of Project VISION, many of the crimes associated with drug use have decreased since the program started.
  • Outcomes: From 2014-2016, burglaries decreased by 60 percent, shoplifting decreased by 36 percent, and larcenies went down by 40 percent.
  • Website: [1]
  • Contact: [2]

 

• Local Overdose Fatality Review program (Maryland)
  • Partners: Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygeine (DHMH), overdose fatality review teams in each county in the state.
  • How it works: For each overdose incident, the DHMH provides the local review team with information from the state medical examiner’s office including raw information about the death and any substances found during the medical examination and other information it can gather such as the deceased’s drug treatment records. Team members must sign a confidentiality agreement to obtain access to protected health information. The local review teams examine these data and all other information they receive about each case. Based on this review, the team develops a set of findings about what potentially could have been done to prevent the death including any missed opportunities for prevention, gaps in the system, and areas for increased collaboration among agencies and stakeholders at the local level. The team also develops recommendations for how these deficiencies could be addressed through changes in laws, policies, and protocols.The review team’s findings and recommendations are shared with officials at the state level, who use the information to inform policies and programs aimed at preventing future overdose deaths.
  • Outcomes:
    • Quality of referral systems improved
    • Increased focus on outreach to families to provide overdose prevention & treatment services by local health departments and other providers
    • Identification of new target audiences for Overdose Response Program (naloxone) trainings
    • Increased awareness of member agency staff of overdose related issues and Overdose Response Program training for member agency staff
    • Changes to intake questionnaires to include questions about overdose history
  • Website: [3]
  • Contact: Erin Haas (Program Manager) [[4]]

 

Deloitte Center for Health Solutions (DCHS)

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, part of Deloitte LPP's Life Sciences and Health Care practice, is a source for fresh perspectives in health care. It looks deeper at the biggest industry issues and provides new thinking around complex challenges. Cutting-edge research and thought-provoking analysis give their clients the insights they need to see things differently, and address the changing landscape. DCHS developed a report called, "Strategies for stemming the opioid crisis" that describes how data analytics can help health plans and pharmacy benefit managers chart their course. To learn more about the DCHS and their research, visit [5].

  According to their major findings, potential strategies for health plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) include:

 

• Leveraging data and emerging technologies
• Working toward more streamlined data collection and sharing
• Supporting the development of evidence-based standards and quality metrics to define and encourage successful treatment
• Advocating for policy changes at the federal level

This complex, multifaceted problem calls for systematic solutions across the healthcare system. Read more about strategies for stemming the opioid crisis.

Tools & Resources

TR - Improve Alignment & Teamwork Among Existing Programs & Opioid Related Coalitions

PAGE MANAGER: [insert name here]
SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT: [fill out table below]

Reviewer	Date	Comments

Sources

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1. Police Executive Research Forum. 2016. Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use. COPS Office Emerging Issues Forums. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. [6]
2. Police Executive Research Forum. 2016. Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use. COPS Office Emerging Issues Forums. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. [7]
3. Police Executive Research Forum. 2016. Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use. COPS Office Emerging Issues Forums. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. [8]
4. Police Executive Research Forum. 2016. Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use. COPS Office Emerging Issues Forums. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. [9]
5. Police Executive Research Forum. 2016. Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use. COPS Office Emerging Issues Forums. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. [10]
6. [11]
7. [12]
8. [13]
9. [14]