Travis County, UT collaborate on opioid overdose dashboard

Kelsey Thompson
·2 min read

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Travis County approved an agreement with the University of Texas at Austin Tuesday to access real-time data on overdoses within the county.

The agreement centers around the use of the Texans Connecting Overdose Prevention Efforts (TxCOPE) platform, a dataset that tracks overdose incidents as well as naloxone distribution and supply levels within the county. The goal of the collaboration is for county leaders to be able to better tailor their response and treatment efforts with this dataset and these trends in mind.

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The data collected is anonymous and confidential, without any identifying information available. It’s available online, as well as via a mobile app, and anyone statewide can anonymously report an overdose incident to the database.

Within the system, TxCOPE details demographic data, information on the overdose, naloxone distribution efforts, the number of doses given and the location of the dose administration. There’s also a supply tracking system for partner organizations and county officials to help track hot spots burgeoning in the region.

Community organizations that Travis County has partnered with for naloxone distribution will also be enrolled in the TxCOPE database. Those include:

  • Communities for Recovery

  • NICE Project

  • The SAFE Alliance

  • Safe Haven

  • Sunrise Community Center

  • Sunrise Navigation Center

  • Texas Harm Reduction Alliance

  • The Other Ones Foundation

  • Trinity Center

  • Urban Alchemy

  • Vivent Health

  • WorkingGroup512

That reporting system came in hand yesterday amid an extreme spike in overdoses, said Dr. Kasey Claborn with UT’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She said TxCOPE was able to alert enrolled organizations along the Interstate 35 corridor that Austin was dealing with a contaminated drug supply that could bleed into surrounding communities.

She said the system blends aggregated data from Austin-Travis County EMS and local response organizations with artificial intelligence features to develop real-time dashboards and better overdose detection efforts.

For those not within an enrolled organization, they can still access information online on mental health and substance use resources as well as available treatment services and naloxone supplies.

As of Sept. 1 of this year, the Texas Targeted Opioid Response Program is also requiring use of TxCOPE in their provider contracts, Claborn noted.

Tuesday’s vote had no fiscal impact on the county, but merely allows the county full access to the collected data and the dashboard.

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