Opioid Related Initiatives

Topics:

Behavioral Health, Evaluation and Research, Health Services Research

Opioid Related Initiatives
Public Health Training Center Course

The Opioid Epidemic at the Intersections of Public Health and Behavioral Health

In partnership with the Region 6 South Central Public Health Training housed at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, LPHI is developing a two-part, educational course to be presented to public health and medical professionals. The course modules will focus on the opioid epidemic and include the following topics: an overview of the history and current status of the opioid epidemic in the United States; local, state and nationwide efforts to combat the epidemic; opioid education and policy initiatives; community support and advocacy tactics; and prospective research recommendations to provide accurate and timely opioid-related data. The series will be published online in late fall 2018.

New Orleans Opioid Survival Connection Project

LPHI is an evaluator for a two-year project managed by the New Orleans Health Department with funding from the US Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance. The New Orleans Opioid Survival Connection Project aims to reduce the negative effects of opioid misuse in the city through an interdisciplinary approach that will connect opioid overdose survivors to rehabilitation and increase comprehensive cross-system planning and collaboration among diverse stakeholders. The project will identify opioid overdose survivors in emergency departments and connect them with a treatment navigator who will link them to recovery support services and provide a consistent point of contact and pathway to recovery. The goal is to treat 200 overdose survivors during each year of the project.

LPHI is engaged with occupational health stakeholders at the state and federal level to evaluate the worker component in the opioid epidemic, particularly as it relates to initiation of prescription opioid use following an occupational injury. With pilot funding through the Central Appalachian Regional Education and Research Center, a CDC/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health-funded program, LPHI conducted preliminary evaluation and characterization of multiple population-based health data systems (mortality, inpatient hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and syndromic surveillance) for opioid-related health outcomes. LPHI also participates in a NIOSH-lead multi-state collaboration to identify and evaluate first responders and other high risk workers who overdose due to secondary contact with fentanyl and other fentanyl‐related substances through routine law enforcement, emergency or other activities.

Medication Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction Program

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) is funded by SAMHSA to implement the Medication Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction project to expand and enhance capacity for coordinated care, medication-assisted treatment, wraparound services, and recovery support services for individuals with opioid use disorders in the Greater New Orleans area. Partners include Metropolitan Human Services District, Behavioral Health Group, Bridge House/Grace House, and Odyssey House of Louisiana. LPHI serves as the independent evaluator who supervises data collection and ensures SAMHSA data reporting requirements are fulfilled. LPHI also conducts Lean Six Sigma process mapping with each site. Lean Six Sigma methodology will contribute to the providers’ ability to deliver quality services in the most efficient manner possible through improving performance by maximizing resources, reducing costs, and improving both client and employee satisfaction. LPHI leads staff in creating a current state map, identifying workflow value and waste, drafting an ideal state, and assigning action steps. LPHI provides assistance to work towards their goals.

NOpioids Campaign

LPHI was contracted by the City of New Orleans to develop and implement a social marketing media campaign to address the opioid epidemic in New Orleans. Within the data of the effects of the opioid epidemic on our community, an opportunity to move beyond a traditional public service campaign was identified. In order to move those at risk to action, working with the creative agency, Trumpet, LPHI developed a strategy to create a seamless narrative that spanned from initial pain treatment to heroin overdoses. The website, www.nopioids.la, is the hub for the numerous resources offered by the city and its partners and is structured to help guide individuals through the various stages of the “addiction continuum”, from the understanding of prescribed opioids to treatment resources and information on naloxone. The campaign ran from April 9, 2018 – June 30, 2018, and garnered more than 41,000 visits to the website.

PCORnet Opioid Surveillance Demonstration

REACHnet, the PCORI-funded Clinical Data Research Network administered by LPHI, was recently awarded funding as the lead site for the PCORI Opioid Rapid Cycle Research Project entitled “PCORnet Opioid Surveillance Demonstration.” This project will be implemented in July 2018 – March 2019 and will include the following specific aims: 1) determine PCORnet Common Data Model fitness for use to characterize and monitor opioid epidemic risk factors, processes, and outcomes; 2) analyze the strength of relationships between patient- and provider-level risk factors and process metrics in relation to outcomes; and 3) identify and assess the value of non-EHR data sources for potential integration with the PCORnet Common Data Model for future projects. The pSCANNER Clinical Data Research Network is co-leading the project. Additional partners include the ADVANCE, NYC-CDRN, and PaTH Clinical Data Research Networks, the CDC, PCORI, and the PCORnet Coordinating Center (Duke Clinical Research Institute and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute).