PROVIDENCE — The state Department of Health will no longer release monthly data for all suspected drug overdose deaths, citing concerns about accuracy and workload.
The department, which routinely has provided monthly updates for both “apparent” and “confirmed” drug overdose deaths, now says it will report only “confirmed” cases, meaning those for which final toxicology reports are complete — a process that can take weeks or even months.
As a result, the public will no longer know from month-to-month whether the total number of fatal overdoses in the state are rising or falling.
The policy change is designed to “balance the goal of releasing data publicly that is more reliable and informative, with the need to release data on a routine basis so communities can keep up with what’s going on,” said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the health department’s new director.
Requiring the state medical examiner to provide monthly updates of all suspected overdose deaths, she added, is “taking away from her ability to do the (work on) cases.”
The director had considered waiting to release any numbers until they could be benchmarked against the national data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. However, she said, the department had decided against it, acknowledging that would result in an “even more significant delay.”
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