How Utah coordinates statewide overdose prevention to act faster when risks spike

The big picture

• Overdose prevention requires coordination across healthcare, public safety, local health departments, and community organizations
• Siloed systems and fragmented communication make it nearly impossible for agencies to share critical data and coordinate rapid responses to new drug trends and emergencies
• Roundtable serves as an interconnected network where partners can access critical resources instantly, supporting the collaboration across organizational boundaries for everything from rapid responses to outbreaks and spike alerts to data analyses assessing the underlying causes of addiction. 

Understanding the full picture of overdoses

Tricia Bishop, Overdose Harm Reduction Coordinator at Utah Department of Health and Human Services, oversees the UCoOp program. In her words, UCoOp is about “understanding the full picture of overdoses in Utah.” 

Her role is to lead her team, looking beyond the numbers and understanding the “who, what, where and why” behind the data to quantify contributing factors, substance types, social determinants of health, and geographic trends of overdoses across the state. “Ultimately, everything we do at UCoOp is designed to have a statewide impact, strengthening Utah's overdose prevention infrastructure,” Bishop explained. 

Today, the current structure of the UCoOp includes 6 participating organizations, including the Department of Public Safety, the Office of Substance Use and Mental Health Department, the Office of Maternal and Child Health Department, the Division of Correctional Health Services, medical examiners, Office of Tribal Health and Family Services, and state epidemiologists with plans for expansion. 

“This diversity of expertise is going to ensure that our strategies are grounded in evidence and reflect the real world complexity of overdose prevention,” Bishop said.

Managing partnerships across a statewide network

But to manage complex interagency efforts and achieve the UCoOP’s goals — which Bishop described as the maintenance of a statewide network that coordinates partnerships, services as a centralized information hub and facilitates rapid communication and coordination between entities involved in overdose prevention — they turned to Roundtable.

“We know overdose prevention work happens across sectors,” Bishop said. “We can’t just silo it. We have to make sure healthcare, public safety, local health, community organizations are involved. Roundtable enables us to serve as a centralized hub for information and resource collection and analysis.”

“We share data, best practices, and guidance, too,” she continued. “When everyone involved in overdose prevention can collaborate in digital spaces across organizations, we’re streamlining workflows, we’re preventing duplicative work.”

Utah focused on creating a central hub where partners could access standing orders for naloxone, SAMHSA guidance, and spike alerts without searching through emails or tracking down colleagues. 

“When new risks emerge, when outbreaks emerge, when we see new drug trends, Roundtable enables us to quickly connect with partners to mobilize and coordinate response efforts.” 

Securing better public health outcomes

For Bishop, it is those outcomes in the field that are most poignant. Information and resource sharing is always positive, but it’s better when collaboration drives meaningful outcomes for constituents state agencies are meant to serve. 

Ultimately, Bishop told us, she wants to “help those people who don’t have a voice,” who are suffering from addictions and overdoses. Bishop and the Utah Department of Health and Human Services use Roundtable as true, statewide public health infrastructure to address overdoses — from rapid response to addressing underlying risk factors and everything in between — to help Utahns live healthier, safer lives. 

For critical interagency efforts, states trust Roundtable. Learn more today.