BJA FY 2022 Drug Data Research Center to Combat the Opioid Crisis

South Regional Drug Data Research Center to Combat the American Opioid Crisis
The opioid crisis exerts a tremendous human and economic toll on America and shows no signs of abating. As with many investigative and reporting efforts, government data surrounding this issue are divided among numerous State and Federal agencies. Considering this structure, attaining comprehensive knowledge and providing actionable insights is often difficult due to the lack of information shared between organizations. This project will address an essential need to provide support for a research center that can (1) consolidate data across groups; (2) provide recurring systematic reports and “real-time” statistics to stakeholders; (3) serve as an avenue for multidisciplinary research efforts that advance our knowledge of the opioid epidemic.

The University of Alabama’s (UA) Institute of Data and Analytics (IDA) propose leveraging experiences and expertise from its past development and current management of a statewide central drug data repository (i.e., https://druguse.alabama.gov/) for the establishment of a South Regional Drug Data Research Center (SR-DDRC) to combat the opioid crisis. The mission of the center is to consolidate information and provide intelligence drawn from opioid data and research efforts that will increase the efficiency and effectiveness for government organizations, public leaders, and the scientific community. The SR-DDRC will serve as the central hub that links data, conducts analyses, and distributes results to departments of public health, law
enforcement agencies, and community stakeholders in US Department of Health and Human
Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) region 4 (i.e., Member States: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, & TN). Furthermore, it will add key data from nine additional states in and around SAMHSA region 6 to provide regional analyses and intelligence to combat the opioid crisis in this expanded region (i.e., Affiliate States: AR, AZ, CO, LA, KA, MO, NM, OK, & TX).

Deliverables of the Center include: i) establishing a regional drug data center that facilitates web-based, real-time, multisector data dissemination across multiple agencies across state lines, ii) utilizing regional drug data documents for policy and strategy development; iii) issuing unsolicited reports, iv) creating a webpage to host a comprehensive toolkit and other resources to support additional regions of the U.S. seeking to develop or enhance a regional data center, v) coordinating an annual meeting where the SR-DDRC will host interpersonal trainings and workshops for stakeholders interested in drug-related data findings and analytic techniques, as well as the necessary steps to develop a regional data center, and vi)
facilitating knowledge transfer webinars where participants learn about evidence-based analytic approaches that can provide critical insights related to drug misuse.