Clear Impact logo

People in Connecticut are Free from Unintentional Drug Overdoses

Age Adjusted Rate Of Hospitalizations Involving All Drug Overdoses In Connecticut

Current Value

73.0

2018

Definition

Line Bar

Story Behind the Curve

Objective:  Healthy CT 2020 objective is to reduce drug overdose related incidents by 10% by year 2020.

What is Drug Overdose?: A drug overdose is defined as taking an excessive amount of drug which will result in harmful effects on the body's functions. A person can overdose on prescription and over-the-counter medications, or illegal drugs. Drug overdoses can be either accidental or intentional. An overdose may lead to serious medical complications and the severity of the drug overdose depends on the type of drug, amount taken, and the physical and medical history of an individual. National and State of Connecticut data show that during the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in hospitalizations involving drug overdoses, particularly with opioid-related drugs. Currently, misuse and addiction to opioids including prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids is a serious national crisis which is affecting the public's health. 

Graph: The above graph displays the age-adjusted rate of hospitalizations in the state of Connecticut involving all drug (any type of drug) overdose-related incidents, for a six-year time period of years 2013 to 2018. Age-adjusted rates are calculated per 100,000 population of year 2000 projected US census, which will allow populations with different age profiles to be compared. Analysis of the data showed that the age adjusted rate of drug overdose-related hospitalizations slightly decreased (by 7.8%) in year 2018 when compared to the previous year 2017. The hospitalization rate for all drug overdoses in year 2018 was at 73.0 compared to 76.8 in year 2013, with a 5% decrease . The Healthy Connecticut 2020 objective is to achieve a 10% reduction in drug overdose related hospitalizations. 

Data Source: CHIME hospital discharge data is used as the primary source, to calculate the age-adjusted rate for hospitalizations.  ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes for drug overdose are used for primary diagnosis and first-listed cause of injury, unless otherwise noted. An individual can have more than one hospitalization and numbers are based on the number of discharges and not on the number of individuals seen.

Data Updated by CT DPH 06/3/2020; Next data update expected 6/1/2021.

Partners

CT DPH continues to collaborate and work with multiple agencies and interdisciplinary partners towards a broader population-based goal of improving health and reducing the overdose related incidents in communities. Under the CDC funded Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) grant, CT DPH partners with many organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC), Yale University and Yale School of Medicine, Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), Office Of The Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), and many local health departments and districts throughout Connecticut.  Prior CDC funding to combat the opioid crisis in CT was from the following grants: Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States (PDO PfS) grant, Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) grant, and the Public Health Emergency Preparedness supplemental grant. 

What Works

Policy: Improve surveillance and understanding of circumstances surrounding drug overdoses by securing reportable data from Hospital Emergency Departments in Connecticut through CHIME. (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives). Chime data analysis provides meaningful information to help the public make informed healthcare decisions and choices. A number of policy changes have been brought into the health care system in the past few years to reduce the drug overdose incidents which includes:

 i) "Voluntary nonopioid directive form" means a form that is voluntarily filed by a patient with a prescribing practitioner that indicates such patient's request  not to be issued a prescription or medication order for an opioid drug. Upon receipt of a voluntary nonopioid directive form, a prescribing practitioner shall document such receipt in the patient's medical record.

ii) Emergency medical services personnel who is the first person to be arrived on the scene will be equipped with an opioid antagonist and such person has received training, approved by the Commissioner of Public Health, in the administration of an opioid antagonist 'Narcan'.

iii) A prescribing practitioner shall not issue a prescription for an opioid drug to a minor for more than five days and to an adult not more than seven days.

iv) Prescriptions for control substances will be signed and electronically transmitted by the prescribing practitioner.

Surveillance: Improve surveillance and understanding of circumstances surrounding drug overdoses by securing reportable data from Hospital Emergency Departments in Connecticut, through CHIME data. Using this data, analysis is conducted to determine the rate of drug overdoses in Connecticut which will help to monitor the drug overdose trends over time. 

Education and Training:  To educate healthcare providers, community health systems and local health departments by providing informed system changes with regards to high risk groups. Training emergency physicians and care managers in cooperation with primary care physicians to set up an individualized care plans for patients who were flagged as drug-seekers, will reduce the mean number of ER visits. Patient education should contain information about overdose risk factors, how to avoid drug overdose, how to recognize and respond to an overdose. By providing patients with faster access to more supportive treatment, delivered in a more integrated way will result in hospital emergency visits related to opioid addictions. Patients will have significantly improved experiences because of new follow-up treatment programs, expanded community support and through education about impact of drug addiction on daily life.   

Action Plan

CT DPH is working closely with its partners to carry out multiple activities necessary to achieve the goal of reducing drug overdose related incidents in communities. In order to reach our goal a number of strategies can be implemented and executed such as:

1. Reducing the number of Prescription Drugs in the communities: Enhancing and maximizing Connecticut's Prescription Monitoring Program will result in reduced number of prescriptions and also "doctor shopping". Doctors will be encouraged to register with prescription monitoring program data base and review the patient's prescription activity.

2. Pain Management for Patients: Medical providers will undertake special training on pain management for patients. Prescribers can also provide treatment with buprenorphine or methadone in combination with behavioral therapies for patients who meet criteria for opioid use disorder.

3. Implementing community health system interventions: By Collaborating with local health departments we can increase the outreach and education programs to providers on proper use of prescription data which will result in reduced number of prescriptions written by physicians. To keep updated with local health departments, regular bi-monthly meetings will be conducted to discuss the progress and provide them with data reports of overdose incidents in their area.

4. Educating Communities about Consequences of Drug Overdose: In collaboration with DMHAS and DCP, CT DPH will educate and reach out to communities via a social marketing campaign targeting substance abuse, prescription misuse and overdose prevention and intervention activities. Communities can receive the message through Billboards, Radio, Television and Social Media. 

5. Safe Drug Disposal: Efforts will be made to increase the awareness in communities about safe disposal of excessive and unused prescription drugs.

6. Saving Lives With Naloxone: Education will be provided to people about the availability of Naloxone for higher risk populations.

7. Access To Drug Overdose Information: By providing the information to public on website www.drugfreect.org about drug overdoses and other resources.

Clear Impact Suite is an easy-to-use, web-based software platform that helps your staff collaborate with external stakeholders and community partners by utilizing the combination of data collection, performance reporting, and program planning.

Scorecard Container Measure Action Actual Value Target Value Tag S A m/d/yy m/d/yyyy