My name is Kate Erickson, I'm the Opioid
Overdose Prevention Director. In
Minnesota, drug overdose deaths are
increasing and there are significant
racial disparities in drug overdose
deaths. MDH Injury and Violence Prevention
Section was awarded a grant from the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) called the Data-Driven
Prevention Initiative (DDPI). Mark Kinde and
Dana Farley wrote the grant and then
hired me, Kate Erickson, as the Opioid
Overdose Prevention Director in January
2017, and Nate Wright as the Lead Drug
Overdose Epidemiologist a few months later. The
goal of DDPI is to increase the
timeliness, accuracy, and utility of
opioid-related data to prevent overdose
deaths and to inform prevention
initiatives. MDH created the Opioid
Dashboard, a one-stop shop for opioid-
related data. Under each indicator
indicator section there are five tabs:
narrative, source, analysis, resources, and
prevention. So it's data but it's a lot
more than that- it's information, context,
and resources. The primary audience for
the Opioid Dashboard is anyone that's
working on substance use disorder and
overdose prevention. We did market
testing in July of 2017 and then we
launched the Opioid Dashboard in October
of 2017. Development included research,
interviews with subject matter experts,
partner engagement, market testing, and
ongoing analysis of multiple sources of
data. Before we even started working in
the development site on the Opioid
Dashboard, we met with partners to talk
about what they needed in terms of
content and layout, and then we reported
back to them about how their ideas were
incorporated into the project. We created
content for many subjects and then
dissemination is ongoing and
and includes multiple communication
channels: press conferences, earned media,
webinars, videos, and a number of journal
articles that were published as well.
Evaluation and quality improvements are
ongoing and
include a weekly
action-oriented team meeting, a
multi-sector data review team,
GovDelivery and Google Analytics, and
presentation evaluations. As a result of
the work with the Data-Driven Prevention
Initiative (DDPI), we have a greater
understanding of the opioid epidemic in
Minnesota. And we're moving towards a
shared understanding, a shared narrative,
about what needs to be done to save
lives, address the harms that have
already happened, and prevent harms from
happening in the first place. We've
developed and enhanced partnerships. Some
of our external partners include: human
services, public safety, Tribal
government, medical examiners, Poison
Control, faith leaders, and employers, just
to name a few. And we've had the
opportunity to work with many of our MDH
colleagues as well:
OSHII, IDEPC, OHIT, Emergency Response,
the lab, oral health, Office of Health
Equity, Health Policy Division, and
Communications. For example, we got to
work with the SHIP grantees who are
working on implementing prescribing
practices, increasing access to naloxone,
and safe disposal of unused or expired
medications. We also got to work with the
All Payers Claims Database (APCD) team to
replicate the new chronic user measure.
We're integrating multiple sources of
data: hospital data, death certificates,
Minnesota Student Survey, EMS, the Bureau
of Criminal Apprehension, Prescription
Monitoring Program, and infectious
disease. We've had four press
conferences. The first was the launch of
the Opioid Dashboard, the Naloxone
Protocol, updated data, and then our last
one was on the "Opioid Epidemic Response:
Employer Toolkit". Just that press
conference reached an audience of over
800,000 viewers. We have had 40,000
visitors to the Opioid Dashboard. While
we're honored and thrilled to have that
many people come to the Opioid Dashboard
in the first year, between October 2017
and October 2018, we also know that the
reach is much greater. When we meet with
the health licensing boards, each
of them serve thousands of providers, and
communicate with thousands of providers,
or if we meet with the Regional
Prevention Coordinators, that's only a
team of eight people, but each of them
reaches hundreds as well. There are six
lessons that I want to touch on. One is
partner engagement. We work in a
reciprocal manner with our partners
where we write a letter of support, or
participate in a grant review committee,
or review a provider messaging campaign,
and then they, in turn for us, will provide
feedback on a data product, or will
solicit updated data from our external
partners. The second is transparency. All
of the data on the Opioid Dashboard has
been vetted, approved, and is ready for
release which makes it really easy for
internal staff and our external partners
to readily use the data and information
that is available there. The third is
availability. We put our contact
information front and center on the
Opioid Dashboard. Seems like a really
simple step, but we received a lot of
feedback that it's nice to be able to
find a person's name, phone number, and
email on a state site so easily.
The fourth is credibility. When I'm
talking to different sectors, there's
something for everyone-
from law enforcement staff, to harm
reduction, to prescribers- there's content
and resources on the Opioid Dashboard
that is relevant to most audiences. The
fifth is actionable data. We equip local
communities with data and information to
understand their local conditions, so
they can look at, what are the drivers in
their area, what are the levers of change.
And the last is alignment. Through the
broader work of the Data-Driven
Prevention Initiative, we have
collaborated across state agencies,
developed an interagency grant matrix,
and worked together to create the MN Opioid
Action Plan which was published by the
Governor's Office on 2/14/18. Thanks so
much.