State of Ohio Taps Bamboo Health to Reduce Fatal Drug Overdoses

What You Should Know: 

– In a proactive effort to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic and reduce drug overdose fatalities, Bamboo Health™, a leader in Real-Time Care Intelligence™, is partnering with the State of Ohio to strengthen its prescription drug monitoring system, the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS). 

– The strategic collaboration will introduce a critical new feature, OD Insights™, designed to alert healthcare providers within their existing workflows if a patient has a prior history of drug overdoses.

OD Insights to Reduce Fatal Drug Overdoses

Research has consistently demonstrated that individuals who have experienced a non-fatal drug overdose are at a significantly heightened risk of a subsequent, fatal overdose. OD Insights™, integrated into Bamboo Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program suite, aims to improve care coordination and empower emergency departments to connect high-risk patients with the most appropriate treatment options, including access to medication for opioid use disorder and other essential tools for overdose prevention.

By seamlessly integrating into OARRS, OD Insights provides timely and relevant data to support informed clinical decision-making, while maintaining the stringent safeguards that protect prescription data. This enhancement allows providers to securely access a patient’s controlled substance use history at the point of care, enabling them to make more informed prescribing decisions as part of a comprehensive, multi-faceted response to the opioid crisis.

Providing healthcare providers with the ability to readily identify high-risk patients has the potential to be life-saving. Data from the Ohio Board of Pharmacy reveals the urgency of this intervention:

• In 2022, at least 32% of Ohioans who died from an unintentional drug overdose had a prior history of a non-fatal overdose.
• 26% of those who suffered a fatal overdose in 2022 received a prescription for a controlled substance from a healthcare provider within 60 days of their death.

“The Ohio Board of Pharmacy continues to be at the forefront of leveraging technology to address the opioid epidemic,” said Ross Armstrong, Chief Commercial Officer at Bamboo Health. “By integrating overdose history into provider workflows, clinicians have access to critical insights that support informed decision-making at pivotal moments and help connect patients with the right care. We are honored to partner with Ohio to implement OD Insights and believe this initiative will serve as a model for other states looking to expand access to harm reduction and treatment.”