Attorney General Ford Reminds Local Agencies of Overdose Tracking Grant Opportunity


March 6, 2020

April 3, 2020 Application Deadline

    Carson City, NV - Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford encourages local agencies to apply for a newly received overdose tracking grant opportunity. Earlier this year, his office was awarded a $698,000 grant for the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) Statewide Expansion and Response Program. This competitive grant was awarded by the U.S Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (COAP). ODMAP is an information technology platform that allows first responders to report suspected pre-hospital drug overdoses in real time. ODMAP was created by the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area to detect, track and log overdoses to facilitate real time drug overdose information sharing between law enforcement agencies fire departments, and emergency medical services.

    In furtherance of AG Ford's investment in the health and safety of all Nevadans, this grant will support statewide adoption of ODMAP, as well as support the development of highly coordinated public safety, behavioral health and public health responses to the data, focusing on "hot spots" and trends of concern.

    "The opioid crisis hit Nevada hard, and my office is actively working to hold responsible parties accountable and prevent future drug overdoses in our communities," said AG Ford. "ODMAP is one of the most useful technologies at our disposal to evaluate overdose spikes and trends, and to intervene when necessary. I encourage all local agencies committed to public health and safety to take advantage of this unique funding opportunity."

    As a result of this grant, the Office of the Nevada Attorney General is making a funding opportunity available to support two purpose areas. The first purpose area will focus on cross-sector partnerships so local communities can make meaningful use of the data collected through ODMAP. The funding will aid local communities to use the collected data to intervene and target specific geographic areas or high risk individuals. Local agencies and groups pursuing public safety, public health, medical and prevention services are encouraged to apply for funding. Those that receive funding are expected to develop implementation plans for responding to the data collected in ODMAP, to include identifying the frequency and format of data sharing; defining spikes and hot spots; and identifying appropriate interventions by public safety, behavioral health and public health partners.

    The second purpose area of this funding is to establish an Application Programming Interface (API). API is a popular method for stakeholder agencies to contribute data without creating additional manual reporting or processes. The API allows for data integration by connecting with the agency or state's Record Management Software (RMS) to ODMAP. An API allows for the direct, automated integration of the two systems. Funding will support the contribution of overdose data by allowing for data integration by connecting the Nevada Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Record Management Software to ODMAP. This supports the near real-time transfer of overdose data from the time the information is entered into the electronic health record (EHR) to the automatic population of ODMAP.

    Agencies interested in applying for funding must submit a completed application by Friday April 3, 2020 by 5:00 p.m. PST. For a copy of the solicitation and application packet or for more information, please visit the grants page of our website here or contact our Grants Manager, Debbie Tanaka, at DTanaka@ag.nv.gov .

    Funding is for the period of May 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. The total available funding is $280,000. The Office of Nevada Attorney General anticipates making approximately 5 awards in the range of $50,000-$100,000 each for Purpose Area #1 and one award in the range of $50,000-$100,000 for Purpose Area #2.

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