Group to start opioid-deaths state database.

Nonprofit to scour records, provide up-to-date picture

Andy Davis

Using information from death certificates, hospitals, coroners and other sources, a Little Rock nonprofit research group plans to create a database of opioid related overdoses in the state.

Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane said the tool being developed by the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care will give policymakers more accurate and up-todate information that they can use when applying for grants and deciding where to focus prevention efforts.

“Right now we’re pouring 2019 resources, dollars and manpower into 2016 and 2017 statistics, and that doesn’t work,” Lane said.

He spoke Wednesday at a news conference at the Arkansas Association of Counties headquarters in Little Rock.

Afterward, representatives from the state Department of Health, Arkansas Hospital Association, Arkansas Coroner’s Association and state Crime Laboratory met to discuss plans for compiling the data.

The project is being funded with a nearly $1 million grant awarded to the state last year by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to a news release from the Foundation for Medical Care, the database will be accessible through an “online dashboard that will present various data sources in meaningful and actionable formats.”

“It will be available to the public and stakeholders while maintaining individual confidentiality,” the release says. “These data will be available for in-depth research, timely identification of spikes in drug crimes, identification of areas of special need and resource gaps.”

Lane said he expects the tool to be operational in three to six months.

According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data compiled by the San Francisco-based Kaiser Family Foundation, Arkansas had 446 fatal drug overdoses in 2017, including 188 from opioids.

On Wednesday, the CDC released preliminary data showing that Arkansas had at least 433 fatal drug overdoses in 2018.

That number is likely to grow as death certificates are updated to reflect the results of completed investigations, the federal agency said.

Lane and other Arkansas officials say the state likely has more fatal opioid-related overdoses than the death certificates indicate. That’s because the state’s 75 elected coroners vary in their practices for investigating deaths, the officials say.

The new database will supplement death certificate information with data from an online reporting system used by 28 coroners.

Gina Redford, the Foundation for Medical Care’s data analytics manager, said she’s hoping the database will encourage more coroners to use the online tool, which would help standardize investigative practices.

The Foundation for Medical Care database also will include information from hospitals and emergency personnel on nonfatal overdoses. The foundation’s website, afmc.org, describes the organization’s mission as “promoting excellence in health and health care through education and evaluation.”

Because the Justice Department grant targets opioids, the database will include only information on overdoses that involve that class of drug, Redford said.

Opioids include prescription painkillers such as oxycodone and fentanyl, as well as heroin.

The database will include information on overdoses involving multiple drugs, as long as one of them is an opioid, she said.

“Opioids are going to have to show up somewhere in the picture for us to get the data,” she said.