Availability of data may vary, but below are potential resources that may help to establish need:

1. People Who Use Drugs (PWUD)—See Involving PWUD in the Design of the Model on page 14
2. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data—Frequency and location of narcotic-related incidents (NRI)
   • Strengths—Provides quantitative and geospatial presentation of data; data updated frequently; allows for quantification of resources allocated to address overdose epidemic; sometimes differentiates overdoses that occur in a residential setting versus a “public” setting (e.g. street, shelter, public restroom, etc.), which allows mobile programs to prioritize highly vulnerable populations
   • Weaknesses—Incidents captured only if someone called 911 (data incomplete); categorization of incident as an NRI made by paramedics, often with incomplete information (some incidents may be misclassified); data may not be readily accessible and often has delayed release and presented in aggregate form; privacy concerns may limit access to such data; demographic information not always captured
3. Data/Metrics from local syringe service program (SSP)—SSPs often have information on population needs, service utilization and health indicators such as overdose history and naloxone rescues from participants
   • Strengths—Demonstrate service needs and utilization in high-risk population; often trusted resource for PWUD with unique and invaluable insights
   • Weaknesses—Not all regions have nearby SSPs; SSPs may be under-resourced and have difficulty managing data requests; maintaining confidentiality is crucial and could complicate sharing of some data
4. 3-1-1 data—Municipal areas that track non- emergency constituent requests may capture indicators of high-risk activity or populations. Useful indicators may include (1) reports of improperly discarded syringes, or (2) homeless encampments
   1. Strengths—3-1-1 data are often public; may reveal trends traditional data sources miss; data updated frequently
   2. Weaknesses—Less-established or utilized 3-1-1 systems may have few data points; 3-1-1 systems may not be designed for data extraction; neighborhoods more likely to report incidents may not align with the neighborhood who experience the highest number of incidents
5. Death data—Frequency and location of deaths where overdose was the cause
   • Strengths—Robust dataset with a lot of information
   • Weaknesses—Typically very delayed data source, data may be months/years old; privacy concerns may limit access to such data
6. Involuntary commitments for substance use disorder (SUD)—Frequency and location of involuntary commitments of individuals who have SUD
   • Strengths—May be indicative of a high-risk population, but likely most helpful as a supplemental source
   • Weaknesses—Smaller sampling than other data sources; privacy concerns may limit access to such data
7. Hospital emergency department data—Frequency, demographic information, location and chief complaint data for regional hospitals
   • Strengths—Timely information about emergency department visits related to drug use/overdose
   • Weaknesses—Does not account for drug events that do not result in hospital visit; data might not be readily accessible depending on region; chief complaint data may be non-specific, resulting in underreporting and miscategorization
8. Arrest Data—Frequency of drug-related arrests may point to areas of high need
   • Strengths—Police departments may have robust data sets that allow precision in pinpointing high-risk activity
   • Weaknesses—Data may not be accessible by public; arrests offer incomplete picture
9. Epidemiologic data around Hepatitis C and HIV— Incidence and location of Hepatitis C and HIV diagnoses may indicate high-risk activity
   • Strengths—Epidemiologic reports and data are typically accessible in any region; provides baseline data which can help demonstrate impact of harm reduction work and unmet needs of PWUD; longitudinal data may provide trends over time
   • Weaknesses—Hepatitis C is not reportable in all states; data reports can be quite delayed; health departments may have incomplete data on risk for Hepatitis C and HIV cases; diseases are underreported
10. Meetings/focus groups with stakeholder agencies serving PWUD—Provide qualitative data on experiences with PWUD including areas of high need, service utilization and barriers to care
    • Strengths—Diverse perspectives and experience; lays foundation for future collaboration on mobile health project
    • Weaknesses—Time-and-resource intensive; number of available stakeholder agencies varies greatly by region