Linkage to Hope Project

Linkage to Hope Project

Abstract

    Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County (PHDMC) is one of 113 local governmental health departments in Montgomery County, Ohio and serves an estimated population of 531,987 residents. PHDMC has provided drug epidemic surveillance since 2010 and co-leads a community-wide effort to respond to the drug crisis, the Community Overdose Action Team (COAT). The COAT members are supportive and invested in the implementation of the Linkage to Hope Project.
       The purpose of the Linkage to Hope Project is to enhance data sharing among partners, advance data collection and analysis, and expand the current Certified Peer Recovery Support (CPRS) services into the criminal justice system by filling a gap in the continuum of care for those who are in active addiction.

    The Linkage to Hope Project will address the allowable uses of funding by: 

Enhancing and expanding a comprehensive real-time data system to include regional information, collection, analysis, and dissemination. PHDMC will work with its data partners to integrate hospital and criminal justice data systems into a care coordination platform that will be available to the CPRS’s to assist in response to those in active addiction. 
Enhancing and expanding the current Overdose Fatality Review efforts by integrating qualitative data collection to contextualize overdose trends as well as barriers to care following fatal and nonfatal overdoses. The data will be used to develop program and policy recommendations and improve coordination and collaboration between agencies and community conditions to prevent future overdose deaths.
Prototyping a risk stratification system to prioritize and respond to drug overdose survivors by utilizing a machine-learning algorithm to identify the largest risk factors of addicted individuals. PHDMC and other county behavioral health providers will use the scores to determine the level of risk of future overdose or death.
Expanding court-based interventions to expedite treatment and recovery services for individuals who are at high risk of a drug overdose by utilizing CPRS services. The Linkage to Hope Project will develop a system of care that increases engagement for those in active addiction by embedding CPRS’s into the municipal courts. CPRS’s will provide the much-needed support and direct connection to additional resources that will decrease future criminal justice involvement and increase individuals’ likelihood of moving towards recovery 

The Linkage to Hope Project is an innovative solution that will change the system of care for drug overdose survivors and decrease mortality.