The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch has been piloting the Suspected Overdose Death Detection project for the past two years amongst six counties. The pilot project has demonstrated the feasibility of collecting fatal drug overdose data from coroners/medical examiners rapidly, specifically within one month of death. It is the only data source and potential system to provide CDPH, partners, and stakeholders with California fatal drug overdose data from coroners/medical examiners quickly. For comparison, preliminary and incomplete death certificate data is available no sooner than four months after death. The goal of the Suspected Overdose Death Detection project is to provide CDPH, partners, and stakeholders with suspected fatal drug overdose data quickly and inform drug overdose outbreak response. Over the next year, this surveillance pilot project will include the following components:
- Refine the data collection process to speed up data collection
- Refine the suspected fatal drug overdose case definition to improve the accuracy of the data
- Systematize data management to support rapid data dissemination
- Expand the project to eight participating counites.
For additional information, please contact OPI@cdph.ca.gov.
This project receive funding from the State Opioid Response (SOR) grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).