LANCASTER, Pa. — Lancaster County commissioners on Aug. 23 approved a new program to study opioid overdose deaths in the county, in an effort to prevent future deaths.
The Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Team will interview friends and family of people who have died of an opioid overdose. They will also be able to access medical records thanks to a state law passed in 2022.
“They’re trying to figure out, in that specific case, what happened and was there anything that could have been done to prevent that tragic outcome, and then take those lessons learned and apply them in the future,” said Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons.
The initiative was brought about by Lancaster County Joining Forces, a partnership between government organizations, law enforcement, addiction support groups and healthcare companies.
Joining Forces was founded in 2017 when opioid deaths were peaking in Lancaster County. The county’s overdose rate was 32.4 per capita, nearly 50% higher than the overdose rate of 22.7 per capita nationally.
“Joining Forces has been very successful in cutting the death rate in half but in order to continue to drive that death rate down, we’re going to have to continue to look at new things and what we can learn from each of these cases,” said Parsons.
Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health will run the program. Dr. Jon Lepley, medical director of the hospital’s addiction medicine department, wrote in a statement:
“While drug overdose deaths in Lancaster County declined significantly since a peak in 2017, preventable overdose deaths still occur at a rate that is twice the historic norm. Combatting this public health crisis requires a coordinated effort from healthcare providers, mental health providers, social services, and law enforcement. An Overdose Fatality Review process incorporates multiple community representatives from these fields to examine recent instances of fatal overdose deaths. This allows us to identify opportunities to prevent future overdose deaths, while respectfully honoring the memory of the lives that were lost.”