Nebraska Data-driven Responses to Prescription Drug Misuse

The Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is being incorporated into the FY 2017 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program. The purpose of this program is to improve collaboration and strategic decision-making of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials to address prescription drug and opioid misuse, save lives, and reduce crime. This is made possible through the collection and analysis of controlled substance prescription data and other scheduled chemical products through a centralized database administered by an authorized state agency. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based program was developed as part of the CARA legislation signed into law on July 22, 2016. In FY 2017, the Data-driven Responses to Opioid Abuse category of funding available through the PDMP grant program will provide funding and technical assistance to state agencies and units of local government located in states with existing and operational prescription drug monitoring programs and federally recognized Indian tribal governments. Funding must be used to form a multidisciplinary action group that may include (but is not limited to): the district attorney’s office, the state or local health department, state medical and pharmacy boards, police and sheriff departments, probation and parole, drug court representatives, child welfare representatives, local drug treatment providers, and community organizations. Grant funds may also be used to support a combination of the allowable use categories to develop multi-disciplinary projects that leverage key data sets; examine the impact of various policies and procedures on patient and community-level outcomes, and implement proven practices on a larger scale; identify geographic areas or populations at greatest risk for prescription drug and opioid misuse and overdose deaths and create data-driven responses at the local or state level; determine best practices for sharing data across diverse stakeholders; implement other innovative activities that demonstrate a multi-disciplinary, data-driven approach to addressing the opioid epidemic and assess the impact of specific policy or practice changes on PDMP utilization and/or patient or community-level outcomes.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will form a multi-disciplinary action group, develop a data dashboard utilizing a combination of vital records data, hospital discharge data, Nebraska Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (NePDMP) data, and geographic information of treatment services available in Nebraska; and increase the number of toxicology trainings and reports on suspected drug related overdose fatalities. This data dashboard will aid in areas such as developing targeted interventions, creating data-driven responses, and determining best practices. The action group will encompass representatives from areas such as behavioral health and treatment agencies, pharmacists, hospitals, law enforcement, and local agencies who will all then oversee the development of this dashboard. The Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention Epidemiologist will be the staff responsible for collecting and reporting the required performance measures.

CA/NCF