Case Study: Framework for Addiction Analysis & Community Transformation (FAACT)

Outcomes Delivered: Helping Virginia Combat the Opioid Epidemic

GCOM partnered with Virginia to develop and implement a powerful cross-agency data sharing platform, the Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT).

This advanced internal data-sharing platform gives users across agencies the ability to easily and securely pull data in and out of the platform, understand and analyze the data without the need for support from a data analyst, and manage the implementation of data-sharing agreements.

This framework delivers insights that are critical to prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery:

Identify demographic differences between user populations to better respond to their needs.
Create community-specific risk profiles for addiction. Identify, investigate, and respond to spikes in overdoses.
Adjust hospital and police staffing within specific locations to better align with community needs.
Evaluate impact of programs on fatal and non-fatal overdoses.

One agency participating in the FAACT platform found that 50% of all EMS incidents involving opioids were initially diagnosed as mental or behavioral disorders instead of opioid related. This is seminal for targeted training for first responders, who can save lives by administering Narcan (naloxone) early. Comparisons of erroneous primary impressions with accurate diagnoses could lead to better understanding of the symptomatic differences between opioid and psychoactive substance use.

Outcomes Delivered

Though Virginia continues to see an alarming number of fatal overdoses from Fentanyl, its per capita rate of 22 per 100k is 40% less than the average of bordering states.
FAACT helped identify an increase in incidents involving Xylazine. By coordinating with local opioid coalitions, Virginia was able to get a head start on addressing Xylazine usage before national alerts from CDC and FDA were released.
Virginia has implemented data-driven Narcan distribution strategies. For example, critical data about overdose hot spots enabled Virginia Overdose Prevention Resource Collaborative (VOPRC) to optimize the location of Narcan distribution centers.
One community discovered that 20% of the people seeking drug-related treatment were from West Virginia or Maryland, resulting in high-cost uncompensated care. This led to an effort to point these individuals to resources within their states of residence.
Successful program outcomes led to a $1.1 million grant from CVS Health to continue the critical work of the FAACT program.

Based on its outstanding results in the Commonwealth of Virginia, FAACT was honored as NASCIO’s State IT Innovation of the Year.