Drug Overdose Prevention
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Overdose Fatality Review Teams
Overdose Fatality Reviews (OFR) and Public Health and Safety Teams (PHAST) are two separate, companion models used by a growing number of communities across the country to strengthen their response to the overdose epidemic.
- Overdose Fatality Reviews are confidential meetings in which a diverse group of stakeholders collaborate to share data and study the death of a specific individual to identify gaps in the system that could have saved that person's life.
- Public Health and Safety Teams are partnerships between public health officials, law enforcement representatives, and other groups dedicated to preventing overdose deaths. PHAST teams are well positioned to perform OFRs.
The following video describes how OFRs and PHASTs can work together:
Because the same guiding principles apply to both OFRs and PHASTs, any jurisdiction conducting one should consider implementing the other to gain a greater understanding of the local crisis, system-level factors that contribute to fatal overdoses, and opportunities for prevention.
Start Your Own Review Team
MDH has developed an OFR Implementation Guide (PDF) to provide an overview of what overdose fatality reviews entail, how to facilitate review meetings, and why this enhanced framework will help you manage a review team. This guide was produced in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR).
To review a helpful checklist of what you need to start a review team, visit OFR Tools: Launch Your OFR.
Training and technical assistance (TA) is now available to support new and existing OFR initiatives. To get in touch with MDH, please fill out this OFR TA Request Form.
Recordings of past trainings are now available.
Other available resources include:
- PHAST and OFR
- PHAST Toolkit
- Overdose Fatality Reviews in Minnesota (PDF)
- Read this report to learn more about past overdose fatality reviews conducted in Minnesota, as well as their successes and recommendations.
- OFR Resource Library
- Local Public Health Guide to Spending Opioid Settlement Funds
- This MDH guide provides advice for spending county/municipal opioid settlement funds to form OFR teams.
MDH is available to support new and existing OFR initiatives through training and technical assistance. To contact the MDH Injury and Violence Prevention Section’s OFR and PHAST subject matter experts, please fill out this OFR TA Request Form.
MDH invites and encourages participation by all. If you need an ASL, a non-English language interpreter, or other physical accommodations, or need documents in an alternative format (such as braille or large print), please email your request to the Overdose Prevention Unit at health.drugodprev@state.mn.us.
To stay informed about Overdose Prevention, sign up for the MDH Overdose Prevention Update. To find the most recent statewide drug overdose and substance use data, please visit the MDH Drug Overdose Dashboard.