New Hampshire Wants to Use Big Data to Tackle the Opioid Crisis

Published: October 22, 2018

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Brief analysis on New Hampshire's RFP for a Data Analytics Platform to handle the opioid crisis.

The New Hampshire Department of Human services released a request for proposals (RFP) for a Data Analytics Platform for the Opioid Crisis. New Hampshire currently has the highest rates of overdose in the nation, and they are looking to use a new system that complies pre-existing data across multiple state agencies to make educated policy decisions to handle this crisis and help effected residents. In their words: “Data related to the opioid crisis in many respects presents the largest data management and analysis challenge of any issue faced not just by the Department but by the State as a whole… Unlocking, consolidating and bringing this data into a holistic Data Analytics Platform (DAP), allows the Department to identify and drive meaningful change.”

Within recent years, the United States has seen a growing trend of overprescribing and abusing of opiates. States are working to remedy this public health crisis in several ways; counseling, mental health services, and treatment centers to name a few. New Hampshire is taking this initiative a step further by creating a Data Analytics Platform (DAP) what will allow the state to maximize the wealth of data they already have via an interoperable platform for various divisions within the Department and across state agencies.

Data analytics as a solution for handling the opioid crisis is not a new notion in the marketplace. But despite the continued discussion, states are still mostly relying on providing health and social services related to the crisis on a local level. Perhaps New Hampshire will be a prime example of successfully leveraging big data into meaningful policy solutions and health services for citizens effected by the crisis.