Integrating EMS and Prison Release Data with Hospital, Mortality, and Geographic Data to Identify Opioid Overdose Patterns Across Settings in New Jersey Communities

This project will integrate data from the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system and a cohort of individuals released from New Jersey prisons into an existing database of uniform billing data, mortality data, and community-level data from numerous sources. The integration of the EMS data will capture EMS-treated overdose encounters that do not result in acute care or death, thereby escaping capture in more traditional health services datasets. Adding EMS data will further help to develop consistent methods of identifying relevant encounters across the data systems and assess patterns of utilization and outcomes across time and location. The integration of the prison release analytic dataset will enable us to examine opioid use disorder and COVID-19-related outcomes among justice-involved individuals and to examine the impact of state-funded programs designed to address substance use disorders in this population. Combining data from multiple sources will lead to a greater understanding of NJ’s ongoing opioid crisis, the variety of ways in which patients receive care, and the impacts of social determinants of health, including incarceration history and community sociodemographic characteristics. This project will demonstrate the value of integrating data for researchers seeking to develop fuller pictures of health services delivery, providers needing to identify patients at high risk for poor OUD-related outcomes, and policymakers aiming to identify communities that are successful in addressing their residents’ needs, and those with greater need. The project will provide methodological foundations for future studies using integrated data to produce rigorous, actionable, and policy-relevant research.