New York Overdose and Suicide Prevention Funding

Overdose prevention funding - New York

There were 106,699 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2021 (32.4 deaths per 100,000 standard population), a 16% increase from 2020.1

*average award amount

Examples of how New York is working to prevent overdose

Statewide provider network

New York's NY MATTERS program established a robust network of treatment providers spanning over 150 receiving clinics statewide. Clinicians within the network provide medications for opioid use disorder and connect patients to a variety of resources such as treatment for other substance use disorders, peer support, counseling, access to naloxone, and psychiatric treatment.

Prescriber resource guide and training materials

New York launched a new prescriber resource guide, which includes e-learning modules, short learning segments, toolkits, best practice guidance, podcasts, clinical reference cards, and online resources created by experts in the state. This resource informs providers on the best practices for buprenorphine initiation and assists them with prescribing and ongoing monitoring to help patients with opioid use disorder live healthy and improved lives.

Enhanced community resources

Broome County's Combating Overdose through Community-Level Intervention initiative expanded collaborations with law enforcement partners, connecting hundreds of individuals who are at high-risk for overdose with low-threshold care support. The county also brought vending machines into the community to dispense harm reduction materials and display QR codes that provide direct linkage to naloxone training resources.

Suicide prevention funding - New York

Examples of how New York is working to prevent suicide

Identifying connections and gaps

New York State (NYS) near real-time surveillance data helped highlight the connection between intentional poisonings and suicide, as well as the challenges in understanding if non-fatal overdoses were intentional. This data gap mobilized the NYS near real-time surveillance team (through the NYS Department of Health) to collaborate with prevention programs to increase access to integrated care systems for people who use drugs and are at risk for suicide. The NYS Department of Health plans to provide technical assistance to substance use settings to facilitate the integration of evidence-based suicide prevention strategies, educational materials, and screening practices into current overdose prevention efforts.

Verifying demographic information

Based on feedback from partners, the NYS ED-SNSRO team examined the validity of race and ethnicity information sent to their near real-time surveillance system and determined that the information is valid and can be used in reports for prevention purposes.