Biden-⁠Harris Administration Launches First-of-its-Kind National Data Dashboard for Non-Fatal Overdoses

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), launched a first-of-its-kind national data dashboard of non-fatal opioid overdoses across the country. At a time when a non-fatal overdose is a leading predictor for a future fatal overdose, widespread access to this data will help first responders on the frontlines of the overdose epidemic target life-saving interventions such as the overdose-reversal medication naloxone. The dashboard will also help inform service providers as they connect people to life-saving treatment for substance use disorder.

“Before today, the best available data at our disposal was the number of Americans dying from an overdose, which was too late to help save a life,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of ONDCP. “With this new dashboard, we can now provide first responders, clinicians, and policymakers with real-time, actionable information that will improve our response and save lives. President Biden’s Strategy makes clear that we must be guided by science to beat the overdose epidemic and this new data tracking system will help us do that.”

“This dashboard puts data to work, strengthening our ability to save lives and fight back against the opioid crisis,” said Ann Carlson, Acting Administrator of NHTSA. “State EMS officials and clinicians provide nearly 49 million records a year to the National EMS Information System. This is a treasure trove of data that can help us identify areas most at risk of overdoses and direct resources and support accordingly to respond before it’s too late.”

The Biden Administration’s National Drug Control Strategy calls for developing and strengthening the nation’s data systems to reach people at-risk of an overdose, and expand access to treatment for substance use disorder and high-impact harm reduction interventions like naloxone. The Biden Administration’s Nonfatal Opioid Overdose Dashboard launched today advances this goal and provides unprecedented access to information for understanding and responding to the opioid overdose epidemic.

Technical Background on Data Collection:

The ONDCP Nonfatal Opioid Overdose Dashboard is informed by a derivation of clinical and patient characteristics within the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) maintained by NHTSA. The NEMSIS data consist of electronic patient care records completed by nearly 95 percent of all EMS agencies nationwide. On average, the data submitted to the national NEMSIS database are 99 percent complete within two weeks.

The Dashboard allows for comparisons of jurisdiction and of county level data to national averages in four categories: population rate of nonfatal opioid overdose in a community, average number of naloxone administrations per patient, average EMS time in transit to reach an overdose patient, and the percent of nonfatal opioid overdose patients who are not transported to a medical facility for further treatment. The Dashboard also features the jurisdictions and counties with highest rates of nonfatal overdoses in the prior rolling 12-month and 28-day periods.

The data will be updated every Monday morning with a two-week lag. The Dashboard launched today represents the first iteration of a tool that will continue to evolve over the coming year to incorporate surveillance of nonfatal overdoses involving any/all drugs, directional change at the jurisdictional level, impact according to major demographic categories (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex, age, urbanicity), patient outcomes, leading clinical measures, and more.  This Dashboard does not currently include other possible sources of naloxone administration such as from community bystanders and therefore is an underestimate of all naloxone administration in the nation.

To view the Dashboard, click HERE.

To read President Biden’s Strategy, click HERE.

To read a fact sheet on President Biden’s Strategy, click HERE.

To read about the key actions the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to address addiction and the overdose epidemic, click HERE.

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