The Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced Monday plans to launch a program to use hospital data to reduce drug deaths.
The new program will launch Jan. 15 in five pilot hospitals. The hospitals will use a voluntary reporting system for nonfatal overdose patients so local health departments and addiction centers can reach out and provide education and services to prevent subsequent overdoses.
Maryland is establishing the program after finding 59 percent people who died of overdose in 2013 were admitted to the hospital for an overdose at least once within 12 months of their death. Some patients had even been admitted more than 10 times in the 12 months before a fatal overdose, according to the report.
Drug deaths have increased significantly in Maryland in the last couple years. The state already reported 766 drug and alcohol deaths by September this year. Last year, a total of 858 people died from drug and alcohol intoxication, up 32 percent since 2010. Heroin deaths increased 95 percent from 2010 to 2013, to a total of 464 deaths. As of September this year, 428 people died from a heroin overdose in Maryland.
To help combat this, officials plan to implement the reporting program statewide by March 1, 2015. The program will be reviewed in April to determine if additional action, such as mandatory reporting, is necessary.
More articles on population health:
UMMC to acquire fitness center chain
Nearly 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure, but just half have it under control
Cigarette smoking costs strain US healthcare system: 6 statistics