TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Pennsylvania's community coordination strategy to reduce opioid overdose deaths
JO  - Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs
A1  - Cloutier, Renee M.
A1  - Aldridge, Arnie
A1  - Hoffman, Glenn
A1  - Boyd, Kristina L.
A1  - Wang, Erh-Hsuan
A1  - Foster, Kiandra
A1  - Snyder, Karley
A1  - Dowd, William
A1  - Pringle, Janice L.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: The Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center (ORTAC) was developed to provide community-level support across Pennsylvania to reduce the opioid-related overdose death (ODD) rate via coalition building/coordination and tailored technical assistance. This study evaluates the initial effects of ORTAC engagement on county-level opioid ODD reductions. <br><br>METHODS: Using quasi-experimental difference-in-difference models, we compared ODD per 100,000 population per quarter between 2016 and 2019 in the 29 ORTAC implementing counties against the 19 non-engaged counties while controlling for county-level time-varying confounders (e.g., naloxone administration by law enforcement). <br><br>RESULTS: Pre-ORTAC implementation, the average ODD/100,000 was 8.92 per 100,000 (SD = 3.62) in ORTAC counties and 5.62 per 100,000 (SD = 2.17) for the 19 comparison counties. Relative to the pre-study rate, there was an estimated 30% decrease in the ODD/100,000 within implementing counties after the first two quarters of ORTAC implementation. In the second year post-ORTAC implementation, the estimated difference between ORTAC and non-ORTAC counties reached a high of 3.80 fewer deaths per 100,000. Overall, analyses indicated that ORTAC's service was associated with avoiding 1,818 opioid ODD in the 29 implementing counties in the two years following implementation. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Findings reinforce the impact of coordinating communities around addressing the ODD crisis. Future policy efforts should provide a suite of overdose reduction strategies and intuitive data structures that can be tailored to individual communities' needs.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1937-1888
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.22-00205
ID  - ref1
ER  -